


Away From Home

by kistytac



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Multi, POV Second Person, Slow Burn, Walkthrough Fic, cobbled together from various canons, found family theme
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2018-10-30 18:50:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 50,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10882827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kistytac/pseuds/kistytac
Summary: All your life, you’d never really travelled beyond the Kanto/Johto regions. But after professor Oak employed you to travel to Alola to help his cousin document the region’s variants of Kanto pokémon, you thought that maybe getting away from home wouldn’t be so bad for a change. Once you arrive, however, you find yourself swept up into the sort of adventure that you haven’t experienced since you took on your gym challenges years ago.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All right, I’ll be real with ya’ll here. I mostly wrote this because I had a hard time immersing myself as the player character in Moon because of the constant reference to the character being exactly 11 years old. The thing is, I still really dig the player character as a protagonist, and wanted to come up with a separate story for an older character, who perhaps was a former player character herself… So I wrote this. Because of this, the reader character is basically the gen2 female player character, but if she’d gone through Kanto alongside Red/Blue first.
> 
> I'm also keeping tags and warnings vague for now, but more will be added/specified as the story goes on! That said, if you think I should add a tag or something, let me know! I'm pretty new to AO3, so idk how it all works yet.
> 
> And lastly.... this is the first fanfic I've written in a looong time, so I apologize if anything reads weird or something!

“Damn… I know this place is technically in the tropics, but I’m sweating buckets here…”

You put up your hand to shield the sun from your eyes for a moment, before they bumped up against your sunglasses, reminding you of their presence atop your head. You immediately felt a pang of guilt. You had barely been in Alola for ten minutes before you’d bought them, and you could just hear your mother’s voice nagging you for having spent your money so quickly and frivolously. This is why you had immediately perched them atop your head after purchasing them, the buyer’s remorse having already set in.

Outside in the bright sun, however, you were reminded why you had purchased them to begin with, and you quickly pulled them down over your eyes. To hell with what your mom would have said. She wasn’t there. And these were a necessary purchase.

You looked over to the patch of long grass next to the building across the street and pulled out your pokédex. According to the updated information that you’d had professor Oak add before you left, Rattata wouldn’t be out until nightfall. However, Grimer and Meowth were supposedly out at all times of day in this city, albeit somewhat rarely.

You nodded, and put your dex back into your bag before crossing the street.

Oak had asked you, specifically, to help him gather data about the regional variants in Alola. You’d agreed, since gathering data for him was essentially what you had been doing for him since he first sent you on your pokémon journey through Kanto as a child. Besides, you figured getting to explore a tropical island chain on Oak’s dime would basically amount to a paid vacation, especially after having spent so much time as the Indigo League champion. Lance had recently won the title back from you, which was another reason why you had agreed to do this for Oak. You had to make a living somehow, and after facing such a disgraceful loss, moving back home was not an option you really wanted to take.

Oak’s cousin, Samson, was supposed to be your contact in the new region, but you had yet to hear back from him, despite having texted him repeatedly throughout your journey to the tropical islands. Considering your job was to catch at least one of each Alolan variant for Samson to study, however, you figured that you might as well get started on your mission while you waited for him.

As you pushed open the gate and entered the grassy lot, you couldn’t help but realize how different this was from Johto and Kanto. The only places you might catch wild pokémon within a city’s limits like this would have been in some kind of body of water. Not that there wasn’t water to spare in Alola, but patches of grass in the middle of a city like this were basically unheard of in your home.

It wasn’t long before a Meowth slinked out from behind a palm tree. Upon seeing you, you noticed its hackles raise as it readied to attack. _Perfect,_ you thought.

“Jigglypuff!” You called out, tossing a love ball. Your most recently-evolved Jigglypuff popped out of the ball and looked back at you, obediently waiting for a command.

“Sing!” You said, pointing at the Meowth. Jigglypuff turned to face its opponent, its expression steeled. As it sang its melody, you made sure to plug your ears, lest you risked getting drowsy yourself. The Meowth, meanwhile, quickly succumbed to the attack and you watched as it nodded off.

“Pound!” You commanded, not wanting to risk accidentally over-damaging the wild pokémon with a stronger move. Unfortunately, Jigglypuff was still under leveled, and it took several more tries to finally get the Meowth’s health low enough to catch. Even more unfortunately, on the final use of pound, the Meowth woke back up, angrier than ever. It got a nasty scratch in before Jigglypuff managed to sing it to sleep once more, and you finally felt comfortable enough to grab a pokéball.

As you pulled your arm back to toss the ball, however, you noticed something else flash across your vision. Before you knew what was happening, the Meowth was gone and an ultraball was in its place. The ball clicked, signaling that it had caught the pokémon, and you looked up, wanting to see who dared to try such a low trick.

Your question was answered when you saw the tall, white-haired man standing across the patch of grass from you. He was hunched over, but a grin was on his face as he swaggered up to where you were and picked up the ultraball. The glimmer of a gold pendant hanging around his neck caught your eye, but you couldn’t get a good enough look to really see what was on it.

“Yo, thanks babe,” The man said, smirking down at you, “I owe ya one.”

He had started to walk off when you finally found your voice.

“Ex _cuse_ me?!” You shouted, and he stopped in his tracks, turning just enough to look back at you.

“I was going to catch that Meowth!” You accused, pointing your finger at him. Your Jigglypuff let out a long, low squeak of air in anger along with you. The man, meanwhile, just threw his head back and laughed.

“What can I say, I’m an opportunist.” He said, grinning back at you one last time before turning back around and continuing out the gate, then turning the corner and disappearing from your line of sight.

Your blood boiling, you took off after him, but could only take a total of two steps before you slipped on something and completely lost your footing. You landed face down in the soft soil, trying to scramble up when something grabbed hold of your ankle, sticking your foot to the ground. Irritated, you turned to see the shining Alolan Grimer staring up at you.

You whipped your head back in the direction the man had left, then back to the Grimer, then back to the gate, and finally back to the Grimer once more.

“Jigglypuff, sing.” You sighed, covering your ears. Upon hearing the melody, the Grimer instantly fell asleep, oozing off of your ankle. Not feeling up to fighting much, you tossed an ultraball of your own at the Grimer, and watched warily as the ball shook several times before finally clicking, signaling that the pokémon had been caught.

Instead of feeling victorious, however, your anger was renewed. If that jerk was going to use an ultraball to steal that Meowth from under you, why did he wait until you had weakened it so much?!

Grabbing the ultraball, you got to your feet and called Jigglypuff back before marching off to the edge of the grass. Above you, a Wingull cried from the top of a tree, but you shot a glare up at it, daring it to go after you.

You grabbed the gate in front of you, intending to push it open, but withdrew your hand immediately when you felt something wet on it. For a split second, you thought it might have been another grimer, until you looked down and realized the paint was just fresh. The much larger handprint of the man was next to yours. Your eyes lingered on it for a moment before a white fluttering on the other side of the gate caught your eye. You quickly grabbed a hold of the source and realized it was a note warning passersby of the wet paint.

“…Well that was helpful.” You muttered sarcastically, letting the paper go again.

You looked down the street that you saw the white-haired man go. He was nowhere in sight anymore, but you figured as much.

With a frustrated growl, you rubbed your hands on the denim of your shorts, wiping the wet paint off. Then, you headed back the way that you had come, through the gate that you knew had yet to be freshly painted.

 

You headed to the pokémon center, healing your Jigglypuff and newly-caught Grimer before storing it into a box. The café to your left had caught your eye since you’d walked in, and as soon as your Grimer was safely deposited, you went up to the counter.

“What’ll it be?” The smiling old man behind the counter asked you. You looked up at the menu, thinking for a moment.

“Can you do iced Roserade tea?” You asked him. It was way too warm to even think about having a hot drink.

“Absolutely!” The man behind the counter said cheerfully, then turned around to start on your cup. While you waited for him, you pulled out your dex, checking it again. Still no word back from Samson. You sent him one more text, informing him that you had caught a Grimer and were _still_ waiting on him to give you a meet-up location, before you noticed the old man pushing your cup of tea across the counter toward you.

“That’ll be 198” he said with a smile.

You barely had time to begin digging into your bag for your wallet when a large hand slammed down on the counter between you and the cashier. The first thing you noticed was the red paint along the bottom of the hand, smearing all over two 100 bills poking out from under it. Your eyes then drifted to the black and white bands on his wrist, before catching the tattoo on the forearm. A glint of gold flashed in the corner of your eye.

Your heart nearly stopped when you realized that this person was the very same man who had captured the Meowth out from under your nose just earlier. You took a step back, looking up at him. He seemed even taller up close. He glanced at you, having noticed you recognizing him, and gave you a wink.

“Don’t worry babe, I got it,” He said with a crooked smile, “Here you go, my man.” He turned to the clerk now, his tone overly casual. The clerk looked from him to the money suspiciously, before finally swiping it up and holding the small bills up to the light. You waited until he seemed satisfied before grabbing your tea.

“Thanks.” You muttered to the white-haired man as you brushed past him to head toward a table. He followed you, and you tried to ignore him until he pulled up the chair opposite you and plopped himself down into it, draping his arm over the backrest. You noticed the gold medallion around his neck was the same shape as his tattoos, and you realized that they were in the shape of a stylized “S.” You briefly wondered what that stood for, but didn’t want to ask.

“What do you want?” You asked him instead, not bothering to hide the harsh tone to your voice. This was getting annoying.

“That’s what ya say to someone who’s paying you back for a favor?!” The man exclaimed, raising his voice slightly more than necessary, gaining the momentary attention of a couple of other people in the pokémon center, “I told ya I owed you one, and there ya are.”

You looked up at him and narrowed your eyes, doing your best to ignore the stares of the strangers.

“I didn’t ask you for this.” You said bluntly, crossing your arms and then turning and looking out the window. You refused to touch the tea.

“Didn’t ask ya for that Meowth either.” He said, shrugging. You snapped your head back to glare at him once more.

“I know. That was pretty fucked up.” You spat. You noticed his posture suddenly change at the accusation. Where he had once been slinging himself over the chair like a discarded sweater, now he was sitting more upright, crossing his arms over his chest and his left leg over his right knee. You couldn’t help but notice how his right leg was also suddenly bouncing. Despite the agitated signals, however, his cocky grin was wider than ever.

“Yep. That’s how I roll, babe.” He said, and it took everything in you not to grab the tea and throw it in his face. The only thing that stopped you was the knowledge that the tea wasn’t hot, and would have probably felt more refreshing than offensive in this weather.

Several minutes passed in silence as you glared at him and he watched the people going in and out of the center. You thought you heard a buzzing come from your bag at one point, but you assumed it was just your rash-natured Jigglypuff itching for a battle again and ignored it as you stared at the stranger.

While his strong jawline and long, straight nose dominated his facial features, the striking contrast between his tuft of white hair and his black eyebrows were what truly caught your attention. Up close, you could see past his large sunglasses enough to notice that he had an undercut that was also black. So he dyed his hair white. You wondered how much bleach that must take to maintain. He seemed to know how to care for it though, because his hair looked fluffy and soft, not the stiff and damaged look that usually accompanied multiple bleachings. You absently wondered how it might feel to run your hands through, but you tried not to linger on the thought.

Going down his face, you noticed he had bags under his eyes, which he seemed to be attempting to cover with dark eyeliner and shadow. You couldn’t help but notice how it complimented the stormy gray color of his irises. While you were busy studying his eyes, however, they unexpectedly turned back to catch your stare.

“What?” He said, his tone now dripping with honey, “See somethin’ ya like?” He smirked at you, and suddenly he was leaning back into the chair again, spreading his legs wide and draping both of his arms behind the backrest this time. He raised and lowered his eyebrows suggestively a couple of times, and you rolled your eyes in response.

“As if,” You scoffed back at him, though you could feel your cheeks begin to heat up at having been caught staring, “Seriously though, do you want something?” You then asked him bluntly, trying to change the subject before you said something you might regret. You started to reach your hand out for the tea, but stopped yourself.

“I don’t expect anything like that.” He said, shrugging, though his cocky grin did not falter, “Like I said, I owed you, and so I paid ya back.”

“Then why did you follow me to a table?” You asked him point-blank, narrowing your eyes once again, “You could’ve just paid for my drink and left, but instead, here you are.” You were being harsh, but after your long voyage, your contact’s silence, and the particular brand of bullshit this man had put you through today, your patience was wearing rather thin.

“Shit, I was just tryna do you a solid.” The man said, finally dropping his smile for his own look of annoyance. There was a darkness behind it that gave you an uneasy feeling that you pushed down.

“If you wanted to ‘do me a solid,’” you said, making air quotes with your fingers, “you could’ve let me catch that Meowth in the first place.”

“Why?” He laughed, shrugging his shoulders, “I saw it, it was weak, I threw a ball, I caught it. What’s the big deal? You really want a Meowth that damn badly?” It literally stunned you how dense he was being about this.

“I- It’s not just about the- _I_ was the one who weakened it!” you shouted once you found your words, once again gaining the attention of several other people within the pokémon center. This time, they didn’t turn back to their own business so quickly, and you noticed a several people exchanging whispers as they glanced over at your table. You could feel your cheeks turning red as you sunk into your chair, trying to make yourself as unnoticeable as possible.

Across the table, the man in front of you moved to close the gap between you somewhat. You peeked up at him, expecting him to be looming over you with that shit-eating grin, but he looked surprisingly serious instead. When he spoke again, it was soft enough that no one beyond the table could have heard him.

“Yeah,” He said, his casual, cocky tone still carrying through despite his softer voice, “Which is why when I came in and I saw ya ordering your drink, I thought ‘whoa, hey, here’s my chance!’ Like I said-”

“You ‘owe’ me. Yeah, I heard you the first three times.” You said bitterly, but also leaning forward and lowering your own voice, feeling self-conscious of any possible lingering stares, “ _I’m_ saying that if you hadn’t stolen that Meowth out from under me to begin with-”

“Whoa, whoa!” The man said, leaning back to put his hands in front of him, palms toward you. He closed his eyes as he shook his head, “First off, I was gonna say that I’m an opportunist.” He chuckled softly before continuing, “Second, ‘stealin’ is a strong word, babe. I didn’t steal nothin’ from ya. That Meowth was wild, weak, and I just happened to catch it first!”

“You probably wouldn’t have caught it if I hadn’t taken the effort to lower its health!” You snapped back in a hushed tone, “And stop calling me ‘babe.’”

“You got it, cutie.” He said, winking at you. You pursed your lips in response, trying to will your cheeks from getting even redder. Beside you, you heard something in your bag vibrate again.

“Look, just give me the Meowth, and I’ll… I don’t know, I’ll trade you for one from Kanto.” You said, looking past him at the PC in the opposite corner of the center. Did you even have any Meowths from back home handy?

The man across from you rubbed his chin as he considered the offer. After only a moment, however, he shook his head and leaned forward, once again closing the distance between the two of you.

“Interesting proposition sweets, but I don’t think that’d work for me. I need a local Meowth, see?” He told you in a hushed tone. You couldn’t stop your lip from curling up in anger.

“Then you should really just catch your own!” You snapped back, just as you heard your bag vibrate again. Irritated, you grabbed your bag and checked your pokéballs, noticing nothing out of the ordinary. Suddenly, you realized what the vibrating must have been and you frantically dug out your pokédex.

Once you’d flipped it open, your fears were confirmed. You had several missed texts from Samson Oak, and you hurriedly opened them.

_Alola! Just got your messages! Welcome to the islands!_

_I am with Kahuna Hala right now! We can meet you at the plaza in Iki town! Bring the Grimer!_

_Or I can meet you at the motel on Route 2 if you would rather rest after your journey instead! Your arrangements there have already been prepared!_

“I have to go.” You said in a rush, grabbing your bag and standing up. The man watched you as you stuffed your pokédex into one of the pockets and brushed past the table. You tried not to look at the untouched tea as you passed it by. You’d really wanted to try it, and it really did look so refreshing. But you weren’t about to accept something like that from that man, not after that dirty trick he’d pulled.

You tried to ignore the fact that he was still watching you as you crossed the center and proceeded to withdraw your recently-caught grimer from the PC. As you made your way to the door, you made it a point not to look at him.

However, as soon as you stepped in the doorway and felt the humid heat rush over your face from the automatic doors sliding open, you realized something. You had no idea where either of these places Samson had just mentioned were, and your old-style pokédex would only be able to tell you the approximate locations of the Route and town at best. You stood in the doorway for a moment, internally debating whether or not you were really going to do what you were thinking of doing.

Ah, what the hell. You’d have plenty of other chances to catch a Meowth. There was no reason to hold onto a grudge over this one.

You turned to look back to the table where the guy was still slouched in the chair, though now he was drinking from the cup you had refused to touch. He was making a face as he sipped from it, clearly hating the taste, but he still seemed to be trying to down as much of it as he could. You wondered how dehydrated he must have been in this heat, especially considering the fact that he was wearing black sweats.

As you took a step toward him, he looked back up at you and his crooked grin began to spread across his face once again. You could feel your cheeks getting red again, but you tried your best to compose yourself. You had to let him know that this would be entirely on your terms.

“You really want to pay me back?” You said, digging into your bag and pulling your dex out again. You scrolled through the apps on it until you came to your messages. Pulling up your thread with Samson, you shoved the dex under the man’s nose.

“Show me where these places are.” You said, doing your best to keep your voice steady. Looking at you with a raised eyebrow, the man took the pokédex from you and read the messages. At first, he didn’t seem to have any reaction, but then you noticed his eyebrows stitch together, before his entire face began to pinch in distaste. He looked back up at you, unsmiling now.

“I guess I can.” He said, though his voice was low with discomfort. You had to repress your own smirk at the knowledge that you seemed to have the upper hand of the situation now.

“I appreciate it!” You replied, sprinkling more sugar on your voice than necessary. He looked up to meet your gaze warily, before pulling himself out of the chair.

“C’mon.” He said, walking past you and out the door. You quickly followed him out of the cool pokémon center and into the oppressive heat. He didn’t say anything as he turned to start up the road alongside of the center, and you found yourself almost having to jog to keep up with his pace.

“This is Route 2,” he explained as you approached an archway where the road ended and a dirt path began, winding between the cliffs and leading up a steep hill, “The motel’s at the top of the hill there. If ya wanna get to Iki town though, ya probably wanna get there through Route 1. That starts on the other side of the city.” He began to turn around, hands in his pockets, as you pulled out your pokédex and sent a message to Samson. You were tired, and didn’t really feel like trudging all the way to the other side of Hau’oli city and beyond in the heat.

“Well, since we’re already here,” you said, causing the man to stop in his tracks, “Would you mind just showing me to the motel? I think I’ll be able to figure things out from there.”

He turned back toward you, his expression dark, but he quickly pointed his face toward the ground, as if to hide it from you. He brushed past you without a word and went down the path, taking even bigger strides than before. You found yourself actually having to jog to keep up with him now, and by the time you got to the top of the hill, you were completely out of breath.

He kept walking as you leaned against a fence post to catch your breath. As you did, you took a moment to look around you. The view from the top of the hill was gorgeous, the city bustling below you with early evening traffic, the waves crashing onto the cliff faces to your right in a hypnotizing ebb and flow. You turned around and see a quaint little home just ahead of you on the other side of the trail, a swing set just visible in the yard. Behind that looked to be a farm, encircled by tall, tropical trees. A boy was sitting on a Tauros to your left (wearing an excessive amount of protective gear that you thought, frankly, looked rather ridiculous), but you noticed he was staring across the parking lot. You followed his gaze to see the white-haired man leaning against the corner walls of the L-shaped motel, his arms crossed as he glared down at the ground. You suddenly realized you still didn’t know his name.

After a moment, he looked up and beckoned you over. Having gotten your breath back, you walked over to him, though at your own pace.

“Thanks,” you said once you were up on the platform. Then, after a moment’s hesitation, “I, um. Didn’t catch your name.”

He smirked, and took a step toward you, closing in to your personal space. You unconsciously took your own step back toward the adjacent wall of the building in response.

“That’s ‘cause I didn’t drop it, baby.”

He loomed over you, despite his slouch. You had to crane your neck to meet his eyes as he looked down at you, his wide smirk turning into a grin.

“The name’s Guzma,” he said, suddenly putting his left arm up to lean against the wall himself, next to you, “and I’m afraid I’m gonna be needin’ some sort of… compensation for the escort up here.”

He reached out his right hand and ran his fingers lightly along your jawline, inclining his head slightly as he did so. You jerked your head away automatically, despite the sparks his surprisingly gentle touch had sent down your jaw. Suddenly nervous, you swallowed heavily.

“Escorting me here was supposed to be your payback for-” You started, but he cut you off by taking a hold of your chin, tilting it upwards so that you were staring into his eyes once again.

“It’s called ‘interest,’ sweetheart.” He said quietly, shifting so that he was standing entirely in front of you now, forcing your back to the wall of the motel. He was blocking you, though you noticed that if you needed to, there was just enough space to duck under his right arm if you were to jerk out of his grasp once again. Instead, however, you shifted your gaze back to his, and found his gray eyes staring intensely into yours. You wondered exactly what sort of compensation he had in mind, and whether or not you perhaps wouldn’t mind paying it anyway. He was pretty handsome, and you did have a room waiting for you, after all.

“ALOLA!!!” a voice suddenly called out to your left, following up with your name, and you tore your gaze away from the man named Guzma towering over you to look over to the source of the shouts.

An older man was standing where the boy on the Tauros had been previously, and he was waving at you as though nothing unusual was happening at all. Guzma let go of you as if something had suddenly burned him. You looked back at him for a short moment, and he was glaring at the man who had interrupted you.

When you once again looked back over to man on the other side of the parking lot, you had to do a double-take. He looked almost identical to professor Oak in every way, save for his tanned skin and long hair. He began to walk up to the pair of you, and you suddenly felt Guzma jump off of the raised platform you both had been standing on. Startled, you looked over to him as he pulled something small out of his jacket pocket. He pressed a button on the device, then looked up at you. When he saw you watching him, he winked again. “Guess this is bye for now.” He said, grinning.

Just then, a Charizard landed in the parking lot, wearing a saddle. You jumped in surprise, then watched, bewildered as Guzma climbed up onto it, and, after one final smirk over his shoulder at you, took off into the sunset.

Suddenly, Samson’s hand fell heavily down onto your shoulder, snapping you back to reality.

“Well, let’s get you all checked in, kiddo!” he said cheerfully, as if he hadn’t seen a thing. You decided not to bring it up if he didn’t, and let him steer you toward the lobby.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should put it out there now that Guzma won't be in every chapter, unfortunately. Like in this one or the next one. But don't worry! His relationship with the reader character is the main focus of the story, so he's always gonna have a presence. In the meantime, please enjoy the unfolding of the rest of the story!

After checking in, you took your key and followed Samson to the room on the far end of the motel. You tried not to look at the spot on the wall where you and Guzma had just had your encounter as you passed by it, doing your best to pretend that it hadn’t happened. It was less awkward that way, especially since you now had to focus on working with a man that looked like the near-mirror image of your geriatric boss.

The motel room was small, but you expected as much. You made a beeline for the bed while Samson took a seat on the couch facing the TV. You flopped down onto the bed, letting yourself bounce on the mattress. It was another thing your mom would no doubt have chastised you for, but when you looked up, the only other person in the room was channel surfing, not paying the least bit of attention to what you were doing. You found yourself smiling.

Finally, he settled on a channel and leaned back in his seat. The chatter of news filled the room, an excited female voice going on about some kind of upcoming festival.

“So how was the trip?” Samson asked you casually, and you shrugged.

“Long. Tiring. I’m glad to be back on solid ground, mostly.” The older man laughed loudly at that, even though you hadn’t been trying to be funny.

“Yeah, Kanto and Johto are a long way from Alola, that’s for sure! That’s why my cousin wouldn’t come here himself, even though I keep telling him how great the weather would be for his old bones!” Samson laughed again, a warm, carefree, grandfatherly laugh that made the small motel room feel a little cozier. You smiled a little wider, infected by his jolly demeanor.

“Are you guys really just cousins?” You found yourself suddenly asking, sitting upright. Samson laughed again.

“I know, I know, we look so much alike, we could be twins! Trust me, we’ve gotten that a lot over the years!” He paused to run his hand through his long hair before continuing, “Though recently that seems to be happening less and less. I guess I’ve started to become the Alolan variant!”

As he laughed again, you remembered the pokémon you’d caught earlier, and reached to dig your pokéballs out of your bag.

“Speaking of,” you said, tossing him the ultraball, “I caught a Grimer earlier. I haven’t had the chance to tell the professor about it yet, but they look pretty cool. They like… glimmer.”

Samson caught the ball and his eyes went wide. He wasted no time letting the pokémon out and watching in fascination as it fell onto the ground with a wet _plop_. You covered your nose at the smell, stronger in the confined space of the motel room than it had been outside. Strangely, however, you noticed that the smell of this Grimer was not quite the same as the ones from Kanto. It was still putrid, of course, but it smelled more like compost than the sewage stench you were used to.

“Was it very hard to catch?” Samson asked, getting out of his seat to squat down next to the Grimer so that he could examine it more closely. You were surprised by how unbothered he seemed to be by the smell.

“Not especially. Why do you ask?” you said, your voice nasally as you spoke with your nose covered. He held up the ultraball as he called the Grimer back into it, then tossed it back to you before sitting back down in his seat.

“Ultraballs are expensive,” he pointed out, “It’s surprising to see that you used one to catch such a common pokémon, is all.”

You simply shrugged, staying quiet for a moment as you sunk back against the pillow. You didn’t want to explain the circumstances of the capture to Samson. The ultraball had come out of your own stash, instead of from the cache of pokéballs that professor Oak had given you for your job. But after Guzma had caught that Meowth out from under you, you’d been so frustrated and unwilling to battle that you’d just wanted to catch the Grimer as quickly as possible. But Samson had a point. Ultraballs weren’t cheap, and you silently chastised yourself for having wasted one so thoughtlessly.

“The missing pokémon are suspected to be related to the activities of Team Skull, but no evidence connecting the organization to the crimes has yet surfaced. Regardless, Po Town police department has advised residents of Ula’Ula Island to be on the lookout and to report any suspicious criminal activity to Kahuna Nanu-”

The news report caught your attention the moment you heard the words “missing pokémon.” You’d sat back up and looked at the television once the word “Team” was mentioned. Next to the newscaster speaking on the screen was a familiar, S-shaped symbol that you immediately recognized now, and you felt your stomach drop once you realized it. Samson seemed to notice your sudden alertness, and he looked at you with a frown.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he began, “But you shouldn’t worry much about it. From what I’ve seen, Team Skull is mostly just a bunch of teenagers with nothing better to do than to run around and cause trouble. They’re nothing like Team Rocket once was.”

You looked at him, not speaking. You didn’t need to. You could feel the worried tension between your eyebrows. Samson sighed.

“You can trust me on this one,” he said, leaning back, looking at you with the same kind-but-serious gaze that his cousin always seemed to have. It was probably the least relaxed you’d seen him since meeting him, but he still seemed completely unworried. He continued, “I have been on these islands for a while now, and they’ve never caused any sort of big problem. Besides, they have nowhere near the organization power that even Giovanni did, and you saw how that worked out for him in the end!”

You looked down, not wanting to meet Samson’s eyes as you pointed out, “Rocket didn’t even have Giovanni when they took over Goldenrod though.”

There was silence between you for a moment. A commercial jingle was the only sound filling the room, until you heard the springs at the end of your bed creak. You looked up to see Samson sitting on the corner, smiling at you, but it wasn’t jolly like before. This smile was more like the one your mom used to give you when you were growing up and she had to explain to you why she couldn’t afford to buy you the newest gaming system that all the other kids had. You didn't exactly feel comforted by it.

“Team Rocket was a very organized group that ran for a long time,” he explained, “and they were larger and craftier than any one city could control. That’s why you and Lance were so important in quashing them in the end.”

You looked at him quizzically. It really shouldn’t have surprised you that he’d know the story; just about everyone in Kanto and Johto did. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t weird to hear someone whom you’d only met an hour earlier lay out your own major life events to you so casually. Samson noticed your expression and laughed again, softly this time.

“Yes, yes, Samuel told me the whole thing. He was a little worried about Team Skull too, I think. Especially considering what other organizations have attempted in Rocket’s wake.” A dark look flashed across Samson’s face, but it was gone as quickly as it came, replaced once again with his jolly grin.

“But Team Skull, they really can’t hold a candle to any of those guys! I mean, just for example, I wouldn’t know their leader from Adam, if that’s saying anything!” His joking tone made you giggle as he continued, “And they have a pretty clear base in a certain town on another of the islands, which the Kahuna himself keeps a close watch on. There’s not much that they really can get up to.”

You were quiet as you looked at your hands. You still had your reservations, but Samson seemed so certain in his logic that you didn’t feel that you had much room to try arguing with him. Still, you did have one more question.

“So, what makes these Kahunas so special?” You asked, leaning forward a little. You had been informed by professor Oak that these “Kahuna” people were essentially the strongest trainers on each island; certain people who had been specially chosen by legendary pokémon called “Tapu” that were native to each island. The way he had described it had vaguely reminded you of your process in catching Ho-Oh, and even Suicune to a degree, but the main difference you were aware of was that you had Suicune and Ho-Oh sitting in ultraballs in your bag right now - and at all times since you’d caught them - while these Tapu were allowed to wildly roam as they pleased, as far as you knew. Despite your best efforts, you couldn’t find yourself to be terribly impressed with the concept, all things considered. However, you figured that maybe there was something else to it that a foreigner like the professor couldn’t have possibly properly explained, so you’d been looking forward to meeting these Kahunas yourself before you made any sort of real judgement.

“Oh, well, the Kahunas have a role among these islands that is part of a traditional chain of legendary…” And Samson was off, rambling about the island traditions that you had already learned about from his cousin (and the brochures you’d spent most of your entire trip to Alola reading). You politely tried to listen to him as he went on, waiting for any sort of new information, but he spoke like an encyclopedia article, telling you just the bare facts that you already knew. You smiled, nodding every now and then, but it wasn’t long until your mind drifted back to your encounter with Guzma.

You knew now that the strange “S” symbols he’d been wearing were the logo for Team Skull. So that meant that he was with them. It unsettled you to think about, especially since you really did find him very attractive, if you were being honest with yourself. He was a jerk, sure, but a hot jerk. It kind of just pissed you off more to think about.

“Anyway, you should be able to meet the three of them at the festival tomorrow!” Samson said, jerking you out of your thoughts as he suddenly brought you into his one-sided conversation.

“Huh?” You said, looking up at him. He’d stood back up early on into his lecture as he’d gotten more into it, and was looking back down at you with a raised eyebrow. You quickly tried to cover up the fact that you hadn’t been listening.

“I-I mean… um, what festival?” You asked, and were relieved when Samson looked more surprised at himself than at you.

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot to mention that there’s a big festival tomorrow in Iki Town! It’s to commemorate Tapu Koko, and it’s also the event that starts the local kids off on their island challenges! It’s a pretty big deal, and would be a great way for you to get a taste of Alolan tradition! You really ought to think of going!” He went on, and you smiled a little as you tried to imagine it.

“Maybe I will," you agreed, thinking it over, "I’d like to see what kind of kids become pokémon trainers out here.”

“That’s great!” Samson said with a big grin. Behind him, the TV was playing some sitcom now. Samson turned to see it, and suddenly slapped a hand to his forehead.

“It’s already that late?! I’d better head back to my hotel if I wanna get back in time for Happy Hour!” He said, then turned back to you, “Whatever you decide, please come meet me at professor Kukui’s house tomorrow morning. He’s the local pokémon professor, so he can get you set up with a pokédex that’s equipped to identify Alolan pokémon! Samuel and I were thinking you might need one as you go on!”

“Oh… Okay,” You said, standing up and leading Samson to the door, “And where is this Professor’s house?” You didn’t want to need to ask for help finding some obscure place again.

“Oh, it’s very easy to find! It’s just on the outskirts of the city, along the beach! You can’t miss it from the road!” He said cheerfully as you opened the door for him and he stepped outside.

You said your goodbyes, and after shutting the door, you turned back to face the room and sighed. After everything that had happened to you today, you were absolutely exhausted, both physically and mentally. You made your way to the bed, ready to collapse into sleep even without dinner. 

Halfway across the room, however, you stopped in yout tracks as a thought occurred to you.

“Wait, why does he get to stay in some hotel in the city?!”


	3. Chapter 3

You woke up shortly after sunrise the next morning, hardly a surprise since you’d gone to bed not long after Samson had left. You’d managed to call in some delivery for dinner before passing out, but you’d barely touched it in the end, and still had plenty of leftovers. You heated them up in the small microwave your room provided and ate some in lieu of a proper breakfast. The reheated meal wasn’t exactly tasty, and you still had more left after you were done than you felt comfortable throwing away. You made sure you boxed it up and had it safely stored away in your bag before you checked out of the motel and made your way to this professor’s house.

The mornings of Hau’Oli city were drastically different from the evenings. Where the view from the top of route 2 the previous day had shown you throngs of tourists, commuters, and pokémon crowding the city streets, the morning view from the streets themselves presented a far less bustling scene. The few people who were out seemed to mostly be old folks on a morning stroll, or the occasional young person jogging with their pokémon. They’d nod or wave as you passed, and you’d return the gesture. You watched as the businesses along the main street were getting ready to open for the day. Employees putting up displays waved at you as you walked by, calling out “Alola” to you as you passed. You made sure to return the greeting every time, grinning cheerfully as you did so. It was very hard not to be cheerful when so many people seemed so friendly. It was a refreshing change of pace from the cold, impersonal feeling of the big cities back home.

As you came to a curve in the road, you passed under another archway. You paused to look at it for a moment, admiring the wave-patterned arch stretching above the road, and followed it down to the painted post that held the whole structure up. That’s when you saw the young, blue-haired teenager, a bandana covering the lower half of his face, as he squatted next to the concrete post, partially hidden by a railing along the roadside. He was watching a small Zubat chow down on a tasty-looking pastry.

“At least one of us gets breakfast, yo.” You heard him say softly to the Zubat, which screeched up at him happily in return. As he reached out to pat the Zubat between its big ears, you thought of the leftovers you still had in your bag.

“Hey, kid.” You said, walking up to him. He snapped his head toward you, eyes wide at first, but then narrowing as you approached.

“Yo! I ain’t no kid, yo!” He retorted, standing up and making big, jerky movements with his arms as he spoke. He was wearing a medallion around his neck that you recognized immediately. Unlike Guzma’s shining golden pendant, however, this boy’s was a sparkling silver color. You hesitated for the briefest moment, but then continued digging through your bag anyway.

“My apologies then, young sir.” You said jokingly as you pulled out the box of leftovers. The boy stopped his arm movements as you held the food out to him. He looked from the box to you, then snatched it out of your hand, not even hesitating in pulling his bandanna down from his mouth so he could tear into the lukewarm meal. You turned to continue on your way.

“Fanksh, shish!” he called out as you walked off, and you looked back to see him waving at you, his mouth stuffed full. You smiled and waved back at him before heading along down the road.

It took a little while more of walking, and you’d just passed another pokémon center when the paved road ran out. You began to wonder if Samson hadn’t given you faulty directions. There was a house just ahead of you, and a middle-aged woman was sweeping the porch. You were wondering whether or not to ask her for directions when you saw a Meowth peek out from behind her legs.

You were a little surprised at how shocked you felt to see that the Meowth was the normal variant you were more familiar with. Before you could stop yourself, you were walking up to the house. The woman looked up from her sweeping to see you approaching.

“Alola!” She greeted, at first just putting one hand up in a simple wave before stopping herself and making the full gesture. You couldn’t stop yourself from laughing a little.

“Alola,” you greeted back as you walked up to the porch, smiling brightly at her as you copied the motion, “Is that your Meowth?”

“Indeed it is!” She replied, grinning as she reached down to scratch it behind its ear, “I brought him all the way from home!”

“Oh?” You asked, “You’re not from here either?”

“Nope! My daughter and I just moved here from Kanto!” She said, her smile bright enough to rival the sun still low in the morning sky.

“Hey! I’m from there too,” you began, but then stopped and amended yourself, “well, technically, my hometown is in Johto, but I work out of Pallet Town.”

“Pallet Town? Oh, do you work for Professor Oak?” the woman asked.

“You guessed it!” You confessed, laughing a little. At the mention of Oak’s name, however, you were reminded about why you were down here to begin with.

“Oh, by the way, do you know where Professor, um,” you paused for a moment as you tried to recall the name Samson had told you, “Kukui! That’s it, do you know where professor Kukui lives?”

“Oh! Well, professor Kukui’s home is just down that embankment there.” The woman said, pointing across the dirt path that the paved road had become in the outskirts. You followed her finger, seeing what looked like the top of a (frankly shoddy-looking) roof peeking out from the between the rolling inclines leading down to the beach.

“I… think I see it…” you said, squinting your eyes and leaning from side to side as you tried to get a better viewing angle from where you were standing.

“Are… You about to start your island challenge as well?” The woman asked hesitantly. You looked back up at her, rather surprised she’d assume that of you. If these island challenges were this region’s equivalent of gym challenges, you were definitely too old to be starting yours. But the sincerity in the woman’s voice gave you pause.

“No,” you answered truthfully, shaking your head, “I’m just here on a job.”

“Oh…” The woman looked down at her Meowth for a moment, her smile dimming slightly, before she looked back up at you, an almost pained look to her expression as she continued, “I guess it’s just that my daughter is going to be starting on her island challenge after today, so I’ve been feeling a little anxious for her.”

Her words made you hesitate, not sure what you really could say to that. Still, you managed to smile as you spoke again, purposefully trying to inject as much confidence into your voice as possible.

“Well, if she’s ready to start such a Challenge, she must be a pretty reliable kid!” You said, grinning as you put your hands on your hips, hoping the posture would make you appear even surer of yourself. The woman smiled, seemingly appeased by your statement.

“She is that,” she said, then grinned at you, “Well, Good luck on your job.”

“Oh, yeah! Thanks!” You replied cheerfully, grinning back at her one last time before taking off down the embankment.

There was an area of tall grass just down the hill to your right, and that seemed to be the easiest way down to the beach. But just in front of you was a short, easily jumpable cliff that would put you right behind the ramshackle home sitting on the sand. You decided right away which path to take, but once you got closer to the ledge, you quickly realized it was quite a bit higher than the ones you were used to jumping in Johto and Kanto. Still, it was the quickest way to the house, so you steeled yourself before taking a running start and leaping.

“FUCK!” you shouted as soon as you landed, feeling your foot twisting at a weird angle. You did your best to tuck your body and roll out of the landing, but a sharp pain shooting up your ankle told you that you’d already done the damage.

For a moment, you laid there on the sand, breathing hard as you felt the white-hot pain shoot up your calf from the source of the injury. You were just about to call out your Meganium to help you up when you suddenly heard a voice shouting from the direction of the house ahead of you, followed by the yipping cry of a pokémon. Pulling yourself up into a sitting position, you saw the pokémon staring at you, which looked like some kind of small puppy. It yapped at you again and you stared back at it for half of a moment before a man finally rounded the corner as well.

He was wearing a cap, lab-style safety goggles, a white lab coat, and light gray sweatpants, but no shirt. His dark hair was hastily pulled into a bun at the back of his neck. You tried to stand up to greet him, but the moment you put weight onto your injured ankle, you collapsed back down into the sand.

“Ouch…” you muttered to yourself as he rushed over to you.

“Whoa! Are you okay, cousin?!” he asked, kneeling down next to you as soon as he was close enough.

“Y-yeah, I’m okay…” you started, rubbing at your visibly twisted ankle, but he hastily interrupted you.

“Hey now! That doesn’t look good! We should get that wrapped up!” He exclaimed, wasting no time in scooping you up into his arms. Your eyes widened in shock as he easily carried you around and into the building. You tried to ignore the fact that you were pressed up against his bare, muscular chest, especially after you noticed the silver band around his left ring finger, but by the time he’d brought you into the house and set you on the couch, you were sure your face could have been mistaken for a stoplight.

“Just stay right there, yeah? I’ll be right back!” He said, and disappeared into another room before you could say anything to him. With a sigh, you leaned back into the cushions, pulling your injured leg up onto the couch so that you could rest it.

“What’s going on?” A soft voice chirped from your right. You looked over and at first only saw a blank wall until you finally noticed the ladder leading up it. Your eyes followed it up until you realized that it lead to a loft. And peering down from that loft was a round face with big, green eyes, surrounded by a messy, tangled mass of blonde hair.

The moment the girl met your eyes, her own widened the size of saucers and she quickly dove out of your sight. You furrowed your brow slightly before shrugging her reaction to you off. She must have just been shy.

It wasn’t long before the man came back, followed by a woman who looked to be about his age with her long, white hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was carrying a small first-aid kit.

“Oh my goodness!” She said when she saw you, and hurried over to inspect your ankle.

“I know right? Rockruff must have heard her when she fell, because he just took off so suddenly! I swear, the chivalrous little guy can always tell when there’s a damsel in distress!” The man replied, grinning widely at his own joke.

“Does it hurt much, dear?” the woman asked, gently taking your foot in her hands as she pulled off your shoe. The movement sent pain shooting up from your ankle once more, and you couldn’t hold back a wince. She seemed to notice because she quickly put your foot back down onto the couch and opened the first-aid kit.

As she pulled out a bandage and began wrapping it around your injury, you turned your head toward the loft again. You thought you saw a flash of blonde hair at the top of the ladder, but it ducked quickly out of sight once more.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before, cousin!” the man suddenly said, catching your attention, “are you a tourist?”

“Oh, no, I’m not,” you started, trying not to stumble over your words, “I-I’m here for work. Um, I’m looking for Professor Kukui. I was told I could find him here?”

The woman finished wrapping your ankle and gently set it back down on a throw pillow so that it was elevated. She was smiling at you like she knew something that you didn’t, and it became clear what that was when she looked back at the man in the lab coat.

“Oh yeah! That’s me, cousin!” He said, grinning widely as he poked his thumb to his chest. You had to consciously stop your jaw from dropping. You’d thought he was an assistant! He looked so young, especially compared to the likes of Professors Oak and Elm.

You looked back at the woman, who was walking over to Kukui now. She smiled lovingly at him as she slipped her arm around his shoulders. He responded by wrapping an arm around her waist and you realized that she must have been his wife.

“You’re the girl helping Oak research Alolan variant species, aren’t you?” She asked you. You blinked, taken aback. When had she figured that out?

“Y-yeah,” You admitted, feeling a little sheepish, “He, well, Samson told me to meet him here before the festival today.”

“Ha! Well, in that case, we could still be waiting a while!” Kukui laughed. His wife let go of his shoulders.

“I’ll go start some tea,” She said as she began to turn toward the kitchen. She only took about a step before Kukui grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back toward him, spinning her a little so that their lips met when she bumped into him. She let out a high-pitched, girlish squeal at the gesture, and was glowing when she pulled away. She turned back toward the kitchen again, smiling giddily as she practically skipped off. Her husband let her go this time, holding onto her hand for as long as he could before finally letting it slip out of his grasp. You couldn’t help but smile at the scene. They were truly a cute couple.

Before you could stop yourself, you were imagining Guzma doing the exact same thing with you. You tried to squash the thought down before you could dwell on it.

“How long have you guys been married?” You found yourself asking. Kukui turned to you, looking a little flustered as he grabbed the bill of his cap and began to fidget with it.

“A couple of years now,” He admitted, grinning, though you could see his face taking on a deep blush as he spoke, “But we’ve been together since college. We wanted to wait until we were done with all of that before we settled down.” He laughed as he moved to sit down next to you on the L-shaped couch.

“Well, Burnet did, anyway. And what could I say to that? She’s really somethin’ else, ya know?” As he leaned back in his seat, a warm smile lit up his face, and you thought of something. You leaned toward him and lowered your voice as you spoke.

“So, that girl up there… She isn’t your daughter, is she?” From what you could see, she didn’t exactly look like either of them, but you never knew.

You were answered by Kukui’s reaction before his words. He practically jumped off of the couch at the idea, and stared at you with wide eyes as his blush spread to the rest of his face. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words came out at first, until finally he managed to utter a single, exasperated, “ _No!_ ”

“Um… sorry I asked.” You said quietly, feeling a little bad for having apparently shocked him so badly. Kukui took a deep breath as he sat back down and fidgeted some more with his hat.

“Nah, I’m sorry!” He said with a laugh that sounded rather more uncomfortable than his earlier ones, “It’s just, no, no, that girl up there, she’s my lab assistant, yeah? Her name is Lillie. Burnet found her washed up on the beach a couple months ago, and we’ve just been taking care of her ever since then. I mean, what else was there to do, yeah? She's just a kid. She needs someone to watch over her.”

“Sounds close enough like a daughter me.” You said, smiling over at Kukui. He pulled the brim of his hat down, obscuring his eyes from your view, but you could still make out an embarrassed grin on his face.

When Burnet came back into the room, she was carrying a tray with a steaming teapot and five empty cups. She set the tray on the coffee table before walking over to the ladder leading up to the loft.

“Lillie,” she called, “Do you want some tea, sweetie?”

Lillie’s face appeared at the top of the ladder again. Her hair looked to be brushed now, but she still eyed you warily before shaking her head a little. Burnet smiled kindly up at her.

“All right, well there’s plenty whenever you do want any.” She said, then walked back over to the couch, taking a seat next to her husband. She leaned up against him as he reached over for the teapot and poured three cups for each of you, handing you yours so you wouldn’t have to lean over.

“So, you enjoying Alola, cousin?” Kukui asked as you blew on the tea to cool it.

“Well, I only got here yesterday afternoon, so it’s hard to say yet,” you answered, turning your cup in your hands, “but it’s definitely beautiful here. And everyone seems really friendly. It’s really a refreshing change of pace from home.”

“Haha! Oh yeah! That’s the Alola spirit, cousin!” Kukui laughed, raising his own cup in a toast before taking a long sip of his tea. You followed suit, slurping at your drink to further cool it before it hit your tongue. The taste was amazing. Floral, yet sweet, with a smooth aftertaste. Was this the Roserade tea you hadn’t gotten to try yesterday? You wondered why on earth Guzma would have disliked something so tasty.

Then you wondered why everything was suddenly reminding you of him. You pursed your lips.

“You don’t like the tea?” Burnet’s voice pulled you out of your thoughts. You quickly shook your head.

“No, no, I love it!” You assured her, smiling widely before taking another long sip to emphasize your point. She smiled back, leaning her head into her husband’s shoulder. Kukui grinned and nuzzled his face into her hair, causing her to giggle in response. Before you could stop yourself, you wondered what it might feel like to be able to rub your own face into Guzma’s fluffy mop of hair. You immediately pulled yourself out of the thought, however, and silently chastised yourself for it. _Focus, girl,_ you said to yourself.

“Have you managed to catch any regional variants yet?” Burnet asked you, still looking at you as she reached up to take her husband’s hat off of his head so she could scratch at his scalp. He responded by burying his face even further into her mane, and you turned your attention to your tea. The PDA was starting to get to be a little much, especially since your mind wouldn’t stop drifting to distracting places.

“One,” You answered, “A Grimer, in the city yesterday. I almost caught a Meowth too, but…” You trailed off, not really wanting to go into it, but you were immediately aware that you’d said too much.

You were quiet for a moment, and when you looked at the couple again, they were no longer all over each other. Rather, they were both sitting upright and staring at you with an almost unnerving seriousness.

“What?” You asked, shrinking back a little under their gazes.

“You know about Team Skull, cousin?” Kukui asked you, trying to sound casual, but his voice clearly no longer carried the same carefree tone that it had earlier. You shrugged.

“Samson told me a little bit about them,” You answered, “He told me not to worry about them, that they’re really just a bunch of punk kids.” You weren’t going to mention Guzma, or even the boy from earlier, if you could possibly avoid it. Kukui sighed, then ran a hand over his goatee.

“Yeah, that’s kinda the reputation they got around here, but you probably still want to be careful. They get by by pulling pretty low tricks,” He said.

“Like catching pokémon out from other trainers.” Burnet piped up. You looked from her face to Kukui’s, and realized that they somehow already knew something.

“Hau’Oli may be a big city, but all the locals know each other,” Kukui told you, noticing the look on your face, “And, well, when the leader of Team Skull walks into the pokémon center and starts chatting up and harassing a young woman, who then accuses him of stealing a pokémon from her… Well, it’s good gossip, anyway.”

You couldn’t stop yourself from gaping now. You immediately felt your face begin to burn, and you tried to hide it by taking an extra-long sip from your tea. You’d had no idea that Guzma was the _leader_ of Team Skull, but, almost more distressingly, you hated the idea that the people in the pokémon center had found your little argument with him that afternoon so interesting.

The sound of movement from the wall to the right broke the silence. The three of you looked over to see Lillie climbing down from the loft, wearing an elegant, white sundress, a wide-brimmed white hat, and knee-high white socks. She was also struggling with balancing a duffle bag on her hip as she descended the ladder.

“Hey, there she is!” Kukui called out as Lillie reached the floor, still clutching onto her duffel bag. As you looked on, it almost appeared to be… moving? You were just about to say something when Kukui leaned back over to you, talking quietly so that Lillie wouldn’t be able to hear.

“Look, just… Try to stay away from Team Skull if you can, okay cousin? It’ll just make your job more difficult to get tangled up with the likes of them.” He smiled at you one more time before taking a long sip of his tea. You turned back to your own cup, wondering exactly how much people had told him about the brief encounter you’d had with Guzma in the pokémon center. You had left with him after your argument, after all. You didn’t want to think about what people might have assumed about that.

“U-Um…” A soft voice spoke up, and you looked up to see Lillie looking at you, her brow furrowed as her wide eyes stared at yours. She glanced over to Burnet, who waved her fingers back at her, urging her on.

“H-How do you do,” The girl said, bowing her head quickly as she spoke, “My name is Lillie…”

You smiled at her, willing yourself to focus on the present moment instead of Guzma anymore.

“Hi Lillie,” you said, introducing yourself. She seemed to relax a little and smiled as she bent down to pour herself a cup of tea. She’d just sat down on the couch next to Burnet, who was reaching for the TV remote, when there was a knock at the door.

“Ah, that’s probably old Oak!” Kukui said, setting his now empty cup down as he stood and made his way over to the door. After a brief, jolly greeting, Samson entered the house and looked over to see you on the couch with your foot wrapped and propped up.

“Whoa! What on earth happened to you?!” he exclaimed, his eyes going wide.

“Ah… I just kinda landed wrong when I tried to jump the ledge.” You admitted, feeling embarrassed. Lillie was peering around Burnet to stare as well, but she averted her eyes as soon as she saw you notice her. You sank back into the cushions as much as you could, wishing that you could disappear.

“You really ought to be more careful!” Samson started, but before he could say much else, Burnet held out a cup of freshly poured tea to him.

“Why don’t you have a seat, professor?” she asked, gesturing to the couch.

“Don’t mind if I do!” Samson said, taking the cup from Burnet’s hand and walking over to where the rest if you were seated. He took the spot Kukui had just been in, right in front of the TV.

You sat in silence for a few minutes while Kukui poured himself another cup of tea and began to talk to Samson about the festival later that day. You heard him mention that one of the new trial goers was a young girl about Lillie’s age who had just moved to Alola from Kanto. You brought up your earlier meeting with the woman whom you now suspected was her mother, and how she’d mistaken you for a new trial goer too. You and Samson had laughed at that, but Kukui only smiled quietly to himself.

As the two men continued their conversation, Kukui brought up a new, interesting tidbit he’d come across in his research on how some species variants learned moves compared to other variants that he had been wanting to show Samson. As he led his friend over to and down the stairs on the other side of the house, Burnet got up to brew another pot of tea, leaving you and Lillie alone together on the couch. A commercial for Malasadas was playing and you decided to strike up a conversation while you sat with the girl.

“I haven’t had one of those yet,” you said, nodding at the TV, “do you like them?”

The girl snapped her head to look at you, almost jumping at your voice. You watched her for a moment, wondering if she was okay as she slowly settled back down and watched the commercial.

“O-oh… Well, yes, I-I do…” She said, speaking so softly that you could barely hear her, “Um… My favorite are the sweet malasadas, but the big malasada is pretty tasty too.”

At the mention of the word “malasada,” a loud shuffling noise came from the floor by Lillie’s feet. You looked down to see the duffel bag practically jumping around of its own accord.

“Oh no!” Lillie cried softly as she scooped the bag up into her arms. Glancing nervously at you, and then behind her in the direction Samson and Kukui had gone, she unzipped the bag the tiniest bit and began whispering into the opening. Cocking an eyebrow, you leaned over a little.

“Whatcha got in there?” You asked casually, trying to peek into the bag as best you could from your seat. Lillie looked back up at you, her eyes wide with worry and fear, and her bag began to jump around again. Before she could say anything, a pokémon squeezed out of the opening, letting out a squeaky cry that echoed in the open space of the living room.

You caught your breath at how unexpectedly beautiful it was. It was a small little thing, built similar to a ghastly, but instead of dark smoke surrounding a black core, this pokémon looked like it was made out of the night sky itself. The face in the core was smiling happily as it floated freely around the room, and the gases around it were lit up by what appeared to by tiny, twinkling stars.

“N-Nebby!” Lillie cried out, jumping up to grab the little thing. It drifted just out of her reach, and flew over to where Burnet stood in the kitchen.

“Oh! Hello Nebby!” She greeted the pokémon, which squealed happily back at her in response.

“P-professor…” Lillie said nervously, looking from Nebby to you to Burnet. Burnet smiled and walked back into the living room, a fresh pot of tea in hand.

“Don’t worry, Lillie. She’s a trustworthy person.” She said as she sat down on the couch again, a little closer to you than before. Nebby drifted behind her, before settling down on Lillie’s lap. Lillie wrapped her arms around the little pokémon, holding it against her chest protectively despite Burnet’s reassurance.

You were already digging into your own bag, searching for your pokédex. Once you found it, you whipped it out, flipping it open as you pointed it toward Nebby. Burnet and Lillie were staring at you now, a little alarmed at your haste.

“No data found,” Your pokédex recited up at you in a robotic voice. You blinked in surprise, first pulling the device up to your face to see if you hadn’t perhaps pressed something wrong. But no, your dex had indeed been unable to find any information from its scan of the strange pokémon. You made a face at it, disappointed in its failure, before sighing.

“I’m sorry,” you apologized, placing the pokédex in your lap, “I-I was just curious, is all… I’ve never seen a pokémon like that before,” you looked over at Burnet, who was nodding understandingly at you, and then at Lillie, who was shrinking even farther back, holding Nebby so tightly to her now that it was beginning to wriggle a little in discomfort. You continued, “I really just thought it looked cute… Where did you catch it, Lillie?”

At that question, Lillie looked up to Professor Burnet, her eyes wide with fear again. You were beginning to feel rather awkward when Burnet answered your question for her.

“We… Aren’t really sure where Nebby comes from,” she said, looking at you seriously, “As far as my research can tell, it’s not even from this dimension. That’s one of the reasons that Lillie is staying here with my husband and I. We are all doing our best to find out more about the little guy.”

“I-I see,” you answered, though you didn’t really. A pokémon from another dimension? And you’d thought you’d heard of everything when that trainer from Hoenn had caught a pokémon from outer space. You sighed as you looked down at your pokédex, furrowing your brow. Then, suddenly, you remembered something.

“Oh, by the way,” you started, looking back at Burnet, “Samson told me that Kukui could set me up with a pokédex that’s better suited to this region. Do you think that would be possible?”

“Oh, absolutely!” Burnet exclaimed, seemingly grateful for the change in conversation topics. Immediately, she leaned over to snatch your old dex out of your lap, examining it. She opened the flap, leaning back into the couch as she waited for the screen to load.

“Wow, this interface is ancient,” she said, as she scrolled through the list of pokémon you’d caught over the years in the Johto and Kanto regions. It was more or less completed by now, though the information on it was still somewhat limited. You’d never really travelled beyond the two closely connected regions before this trip, so there had been almost no opportunity to expand your dex beyond what you could find locally. And even in that sense it was still lacking, seeing as how even though you’d encountered the other legendary pokémon of Kanto and Johto over your journeys – if not in the wild, then through battle with other, certain trainers – you only had managed to catch Suicune and Ho-Oh for yourself.

You didn’t like considering Mewtwo to be “legendary,” and anyway, it was more Oak’s responsibility than yours now.

After a moment, Burnet got out of her seat and wandered off to find her husband, leaving you and Lillie alone again. You noticed that she seemed more nervous than ever now, trying to look anywhere other than at you, as she stroked Nebby’s head roughly. You realized now that her biggest concern was your sudden knowledge of the small pokémon in her lap, and you paused as you tried to think of something to say to reassure her. You thought of Mewtwo again.

“Um,” you started, causing her to jump again, “I… Just want you to know, I understand if your pokémon is…” You hesitated, trying to find the right words to describe what you wanted to say, “…Different, from others. So, you don’t have to worry about me telling anyone about it.”

Lillie snapped her head to look at you again, but this time the fear in her eyes seemed to have subsided, replaced with confusion instead. You took a deep breath before you continued, hushing your voice in case any of the others came back while you were talking.

“You see, I have a pokémon like that too… A lot of people think it was destroyed, but… Well, it’s kind of a secret between my boss and I that I was the one who caught it,” you smiled at her, and she seemed to understand.

“R-really?” she asked you, leaning toward you a little as her grip on Nebby loosened slightly. You smiled as you nodded back at her.

“Yup. It’s a special kind of pokémon, the only one of its kind. It had escaped from the lab it was made in years ago, destroying most of the place in the process. No one had seen it for years, and the lab it escaped from told the public that the pokémon was destroyed, but it turned out to be hiding in a mountain in Kanto. And even then, I only found that out after a couple of my friends had encountered it and lost to it… I ended up needing to use a specially made ball to catch it.” Lillie’s mouth dropped open slightly, and you couldn’t stop yourself from smiling as you continued, “Most people only know the lab’s version of the story. Only the people I tell know that I caught it.”

“Do… you have it with you?” Lillie asked hesitantly, eyeing your bag. You looked down at it before shaking your head.

“Oh, no. My boss takes care of it these days. Sometimes I’ll use it if I feel I need to, but… I don’t think it really likes fighting.” You admitted softly. Lillie nodded, gently patting Nebby’s head as it floated in her lap.

“I don’t like Nebby fighting either,” she said, “the last time… didn’t go so well. For either of us.”

She reached over to where she had placed her duffel bag, and brought it into her lap, in front of Nebby.

“Come on now Nebby, you should probably get back inside…” She unzipped the bag all the way and lifted the pokémon off of her lap and placed it inside. It squeaked in displeasure as she zipped it up, but she whispered apologies to it as she did so.

“You don’t have a pokéball for it?” You asked.

Before Lillie could answer you, you heard footsteps marching up the stairs from the basement as the professors returned.

“I’ve got everything set up for you, cousin!” Kukui called, crossing the room and tossing a new device at you. You caught it easily, and looked at it. It was slightly bigger in your hands than your previous one had been, but it had one solid screen that activated when you touched it. Several apps came up, and you quickly selected the pokédex, checking your list of registered pokémon. Everything was still there, though arranged somewhat differently than you were used to. You scrolled through it, getting used to the new interface, as Kukui continued.

“I made sure to add a pager app and registered a few ride pokémon onto it for you too, especially considering, well…” He nodded at your ankle and you looked back up at him.

“…Ride pokémon?” You asked hesitantly.

“Select that,” Burnet answered, leaning over you and pointing to an app labelled “ride pager.” You touched it, and it opened a menu listing several pokémon with moves next to their names.

“If you’re just going to Iki town, you’ll probably be fine sticking with Tauros,” she continued, pointing at the top of the list.

You looked up at Samson, who nodded. Feeling comfortable with his approval, you selected the Tauros on the screen.

“All right!” Kukui exclaimed suddenly, “Let’s get going to the festival!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking a little bit of an artistic liberty here with the ride pager. I guess because I figured that since it's basically poke-uber, they'd have developed an app version, right? Right. Anyway, I hope that doesn't make things too weird :p
> 
> (Also, yes, I gave the reader character Mewtwo. It's relevant to the plot, I promise~)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to warn you all, I haven't properly proofread this chapter, but I wanted to drop it before this weekend since I will be at a con until Monday. So if things read awkwardly, that would be why, and I'll do my best to fix them once I'm back! Thank you for your patience!!!

With Kukui and Burnet’s help, you managed to hobble outside the house to find a saddled Tauros waiting for you on the beach. Kukui had to help you up onto the pokémon, but once you were seated, you felt comfortable continuing without assistance. You ran the Tauros in a few wide circles around the beach, and soon you felt like you had the hang of controlling it.

“I guess I’ll meet you guys there then!” you said to the rest of the group. They would be walking, since Iki town wasn’t that far, and you knew that you would probably beat them to the festival on the Tauros. With a wave, you were off.

You pulled out your new pokédex and brought up the map. You were amazed at how detailed it was, even displaying the structures and grassy areas along the route. The ride up Route 1 was relatively peaceful, save for a couple of strange little normal-type pokémon that were surprisingly aggressive. Your new pokédex identified them as “Yungoos,” and you caught the first one that attacked you with the help of Jigglypuff, but by the time a third one refused to let you pass, you were beginning to get annoyed. A single leafblade from your Meganium was enough to knock the small creature out of your way.

When the dust from the attack settled, you noticed a big, wooden archway just ahead, marking the end of the route. Behind it, some stairs lead up a hill, past a small residential area, to a plaza where you assumed the festival was being held. You could see a small crowd of people and rows of stalls, some still being set up in the mid-morning sunlight.

You rode the Tauros up the stairs, but paused once you made it to the top. Looking around, you took in the bustling scene. A wooden platform was the centerpiece of the plaza, clearly painted to be a pokémon battlefield. Stalls selling food and hand-made trinkets and other souvenirs surrounded it, though you could see a path leading into the trees on the other side of the platform from where you were. To the left of the path was a large house, and you looked over just in time to see a fittingly large old man emerge from it, a small, blue water pokémon sticking close to his ankles. He was quickly followed by a young boy who ran past him, his own small, bird-like pokémon in his tow.

As you continued looking around the plaza, however, you saw something that made your blood run cold. A couple of booths to the left of the house was a food stall being run by two teenagers. A boy and a girl, dressed all in black, bandanas pulled up over the bottom halves of their faces, and sparkling silver pendants hanging from their necks. But what really disturbed you was what they were selling: fried Slowpoke tail.

Reacting before thinking, you hopped off of the Tauros, making sure to land on your good leg. The pokémon took off the moment you dismounted, but in your anger, you didn’t care. There was exactly one thing on your mind right now, and it wasn’t your injury.

“Hey!” You shouted, gaining the stares of several festival goers, including the two Team Skull grunts. Your face was burning from embarrassment, but you did your best to channel the feelings into the fury that was currently overwhelming your social anxiety.

You tried to march up to the stall as intimidatingly as you could manage, but the limp caused by your twisted ankle damaged the effect. The two teens crossed their arms and glared at you as you approached them, and you glared right back.

“What do _you_ want?” The girl behind the counter asked, sneering. The boy leaned up against the stall, tossing a pokéball up and down in his hand. At first, you’d thought he was the kid that you’d ran into that morning, due to the similar hair style, but once you got closer you could see that this boy was clearly at least a couple of years older than the other one had been.

“I want to know where you got these slowpoke tails from,” You said seriously, looking up at the girl. She snorted.

“What are you, a cop?” She scoffed, “We got ‘em from our supplier. Now buy one or fuck off.”

“And who is that?” You challenged, crossing your arms. Although you knew there were legal suppliers of the treat, you couldn’t help but feel suspicious of this notorious Team selling the very same thing you had busted Team Rocket for selling illegitimately years ago.

“None of your damn business,” The boy spoke up from beside you, holding tight onto his pokéball now, “and if you’re gonna keep grillin’ us, I’ll just shut you up right now, yo.”

You narrowed your eyes.

“You don’t want to battle me, kid.” You warned him, your hand grazing your bag. You figured that Meganium would probably be enough to take out whatever he had.

“You think so?!” The young man spat, holding his pokéball out in front of him, “Come at me bitch!”

You were in the process of opening your bag to dig out the pokéball you kept Meganium in when a voice you immediately recognized spoke up from behind you.

“The hell you doin’, boy?”

You whipped around to see Guzma standing right behind you, his hands in his pockets as he stared angrily down the battle-ready grunt.

“B-boss!” both grunts exclaimed in unison, their eyes widening in alarm. The boy immediately shoved his pokéball back into his pocket as the girl leaned over the counter, practically jumping out of the booth in her distress.

“W-we thought you weren’t gonna show up until later! We haven’t made any profits yet!” She seemed frantically worried, but Guzma put his hand up as he shook his head.

“I know, B, I ain’t worried about that,” he said, and you saw the girl visibly relax as she sank back down into the booth. Instead, Guzma focused a glare on the boy once again, and you noticed the grunt’s whole body go rigid.

“You’re the one I’m pissed off at. The hell’re you thinkin’, threatenin’ an injured woman like that?!” Guzma scolded. You’d expected his voice to be colder, given his words, but instead he sounded more like a parent reprimanding their child than a crime boss threatening a subordinate.

“S-sorry Boss…” The boy said, hanging his head. Guzma put his hands on his hips.

“Don’t apologize to me, bonehead. Apologize to her!” He stepped over to give the grunt a gentle smack against the back of his head, and the boy turned to you.

“S-sorry…” He repeated, rubbing the spot where Guzma had hit him. You sighed, then looked up at the Team Skull boss.

“Can I talk to you?” You asked him. At your words, a grin began to spread across Guzma’s face, and the two grunts exchanged surprised glances with each other.

“Sure thing, mamas.” Guzma said, winking at you. You rolled your eyes in response. With some difficulty, you turned and began to limp back in the direction you had come from, hoping to find a less crowded area to talk in. You’d barely taken two steps, however, when you felt Guzma suddenly at your side, taking your arm and pulling it around his shoulders.

“You don’t have to-” you started, but he put a finger up to your lips, silencing you. Your face, which had already been starting to heat up, was now burning at the feeling of his soft touch. The fact that you were close enough to smell his cologne wasn’t helping matters.

“You can barely walk,” he pointed out, “I’m tryna help ya out here. Just… let me. Okay?”

You had little choice _but_ to let him. Though your heart was absolutely pounding at your already close contact, you forced yourself to lean even more heavily against him as you walked down the stairs, unable to risk putting your full weight on your injured ankle. You were somewhat surprised to feel him respond each time by bracing himself against you, purposefully giving you something sturdy to use as a support.

When you made it to the residential area of Iki town, Guzma lead you to a small knoll off to your left, and you let him help you down so that you were sitting underneath the shade of a palm tree. It wasn’t hot yet, but the sun had been up long enough that it was starting to get rather warm.

“So what happened to your leg?” Guzma asked you, pointing to your bandage as he sat down next to you. You looked away from him.

“I… tripped.” You said, after a moment of hesitation. Guzma cocked an eyebrow.

“Ya tripped.” He repeated rather than asked, his voice flat with disbelief.

“Yes!” You answered, your face heating up again. You didn’t want to admit how you had basically done it to yourself.

“Well, if you want anything for the pain, I can help ya out.” He said, leaning back against the tree as well. You turned to cast him a suspicious look, but when you did so, you saw that he was looking right back at you, his brows knitted together in concern.

“I-I’m fine,” You reassured him, turning your eyes to your lap instead. Something about his intense gaze had made your heart begin to pound once again. Then, before you could stop yourself, you admitted, “I just landed wrong when I jumped off of a ledge.”

He seemed to settle a little once you said that.

“I still got stuff that can help.” He said, his voice quiet. You decided it would be in your best interest not to ask him what sort of “stuff” he had.

“I’ll be fine,” you insisted, “but… thanks.”

“The offer’ll be open if ya need it.” He said, nodding as he closed his eyes.

You took the opportunity to watch him for a moment, admiring how the mid-morning sunlight scattered across his handsome face. Was this man really some sort of crime boss? Yeah, he was rude, kind of flashy, and overly forward… But he was no Giovanni. Catching a Meowth out from under you was a low trick, but compared to crippling the Indigo League by closing a gym and overtaking Silph Co. just to get the masterball prototype, it was more of an annoyance than a crime. And sure, offering you painkillers was a little shady, but beyond that, Guzma seemed almost… kind. Even the way he’d talked down to his subordinates was more personable than anything you had ever heard Giovanni say to his own. You were still wary of him and Team Skull, especially given the business that you knew the grunts were conducting right now on the plaza, but he seemed like a decent enough person himself, you supposed.

As you continued to look at him – watching as a warm, gentle breeze tousled his hair slightly – one of his eyes suddenly popped open, catching you staring.

“So, didja say you had somethin’ you wanted to talk about?” He asked, before his smirk began to spread once more, “Or didja just wanna get me alone so you could keep checkin’ me out?”

“I-I was _not_ checking you out!” You denied, crossing your arms over your chest. He laughed at that, clearly not believing you.

“Whatever you say, doll.” He said, winking before turning his gaze out toward the ocean. You made a face at him, then took a deep breath to re-settle yourself. When you released it, you focused your gaze on the path leading down the hill and out of the town, past the archway and to what you could see of Route 1. You drew your good leg up to your chest, wrapping your arms around it. Despite your previous musings, a question kept hanging over you, and you needed an answer to it. And who better to answer it than the Team Boss himself?

“I have to know if Team Skull is affiliated with Team Rocket in any way.” You said, keeping your voice as even as possible. Out of your peripheral vision, you could see Guzma suddenly sit upright, looking at directly at you now. You kept your eyes trained forward as you sat in silence, waiting for his answer.

“So, you’ve heard about our little organization?” he asked, and you tensed.

“Some,” You responded shortly, still not looking at him.

“What kinda shit you been hearin’?” Guzma pressed, still staring at you.

“You haven’t answered me.” You said stiffly. He was dancing around your accusation, and you were beginning to fear the worst.

“Well, we ain’t no Team Rocket,” he said finally, settling back against the tree again and crossing his arms, “Team Skull is one-of-a-kind, baby, and don’t you forget it.”

“The Slowpoke tail-” you began, but he cut you off.

“We bought those local, fair and square” He told you, guessing your concern, then turned to face you properly, “You got some kinda beef with Rocket or somethin’?” He sounded like he already knew the answer.

You were quiet for a moment before muttering, “You don’t know the half of it.”

A few moments of silence passed between you. You could tell he was staring at you, but not in a leering way. It was more like he was looking for something in your carefully crafted expression, something that he wasn’t finding. When you turned to look at him again, he was frowning.

“What?” you asked him. You felt your face heat up under his searching gaze, your stoic expression faltering. Maybe you should’ve kept your eyes forward after all. Suddenly, he seemed to find what he was looking for, and his face split into a wide grin once again.

“ _What?_ ” You repeated, narrowing your eyes now.

“I just realized where I recognized ya from.” He answered, shifting to lean forward on his elbows. His own eyes narrowed a bit, but his smile stayed as it was. He was definitely leering now.

“You _recognized_ me?” You asked him. When had that happened? He sure didn’t seem to know who you were yesterday, and you doubted he was the kind of guy to browse global news archives in his spare time.

“Yeah, you’re that girl who took down Team Rocket and then became a league champion!” He said with a laugh, and you buried your face in your hand.

“Okay, yeah,” you admitted, “but that was years ago now…” you were muttering at this point, but Guzma just shrugged.

“So what? Means you were just a kid when you did that. That’s pretty fuckin’ impressive.” He said. You ran your hand up your face and through your hair.

“I was a teenager,” you corrected, speaking shortly. This wasn’t the direction you’d wanted the conversation to take. Was he doing this on purpose?

“Yeah, but-”

“Look, my point was going to be that if I hear of you guys ever even trying to pull the same sort of shit that Rocket did,” You snapped, determined to regain control over the conversation, leaning toward him as you spoke, and narrowing your eyes as you stared hard into his, your voice lowered in an angry growl, “I’m going to personally make sure that you, Guzma, specifically regret it.”

“Damn, girl,” Guzma said softly, his tongue flashing out in an unconscious lick of his lips. It drew your attention, and you found yourself suddenly staring at his mouth, unable to tear your gaze away. Before you realized it, the distance between the two of you was halved, and then halved again. You became aware of the vaguely spicy scent of his cologne once more, and before you could stop yourself, you were closing your eyes as you breathed it in. You felt his fingers gently touch your jaw, and your eyes snapped open. He was looking at you, hesitating now. You opened your mouth to say something, but before you could, a familiar voice came from the direction of the road, and you both turned to look for the source.

Kukui was walking up the stairs, talking enthusiastically to a young girl in a red hat. Lillie was walking along next to the girl, clutching the bag that you now knew contained Nebby with white knuckles. Burnet was walking just behind her, casually resting her head back in her hands. Samson brought up the rear, going slowly as he admired his surroundings.

“Godammit.” Guzma swore as he stood up. You looked up at him, absolutely towering over you now.

“Maybe we can continue this later, sweetheart.” He said, winking as he gave you one last grin. Then he turned and walked off, around the back side of the house behind you, avoiding the road. You watched him go, feeling suddenly breathless.

“Hey, there you are cousin!” Kukui called out from behind you, and you turned to see him approaching you, the young girl following several steps behind him. Lillie hung back with Burnet as they waited for Samson to catch up.

“H-hey, professor…” You said, wondering if he had seen you with Guzma.

“You taking a rest in the shade?” He guessed, and you nodded quickly, grateful for the excuse.

“Y-yeah, um. I didn’t know that the ride pokémon left you as soon as you got off of them,” you said, attempting to steer the conversation away from what you had been doing underneath the tree.

“Oh wow!” Kukui exclaimed, “You’ve been waiting here all this time?”

You nodded again, and he turned back to the girl.

“Why don’t you go and check out the festival with Lillie, yeah? We’ll catch up.” He said. The girl nodded at him, then turned on her heel and took off. You watched her jog over to Lillie, exchange a few words with her, then they both went running up the stairs to the plaza.

Meanwhile, Kukui was bending down next to you, pulling your arm over his shoulder so that he could help you stand up. He wasn’t quite as tall as Guzma, but he was certainly broader, and you found yourself having to readjust as he helped you hobble over to where Burnet and Samson were waiting.

“I know it’s none of my business,” Kukui said quietly as you walked, so that only you could hear him, “but you really ought to consider what I said earlier, about not getting tangled with Team Skull.”

You looked up at him, about to question him on the matter, when he cut you off by calling to Burnet.

“Help me out, won’t you baby?” he asked her, waving her over. Before you knew it, she was supporting your other side and the two of them were helping you up the stairs. Once at the top, Kukui let go of you, wandering off into the crowd with Samson, as Burnet helped you over the platform. As you both sat for a moment, you ran your hand over the intricate design painted on the stage.

“So, is it okay to sit here? This stage looks like it’s for battles,” You asked Burnet, who turned around to look at the rest of the stage as well.

“Oh it is,” She answered, then turned back to you, “The two trial goers will have their ceremonial battle in honor of the Tapu on this stage. But that won’t be until dusk. Hala will probably have some sumo competition later on too, but I’m sure he’ll let us know when we have to move.”

“Hala?” You asked, tilting your head slightly.

“The Melemele Kahuna. He pretty much hosts this whole thing every year. He lives over there,” she jerked a thumb over at the big house, and you immediately thought of the old man you’d seen emerge from it earlier. Had that been him?

“Ah, there you are, Burnet!” a voiced boomed from the stage behind the two of you. You both turned to see the large old man, the Kahuna, you supposed, walking up the steps on the other side. The little blue water pokémon scampered alongside him, barking shrilly.

“Oh, speak of the devil!” Burnet said as she got to her feet to greet him. You stayed where you were, swinging your injured foot a little. They were talking a little distance away from you, and you took the opportunity to quickly scan the crowd for a tuft of white hair or the glint of gold-rimmed sunglasses. But not even the stall selling Slowpoke tail seemed to show any sign of him.

Suddenly, you were pulled out of your thoughts by the barking of the little blue pokémon. It hopped into your lap, just as the old man sat down next to you on the stage. You looked at him, then to where he and Burnet had just been talking, just in time to see her heading down the steps toward Hala’s house. She glanced back in time to see you looking at her, and she waved before disappearing into the crowd. You half-heartedly waved back, though she was already gone.

“So, you’re Samson’s assistant?” The old man asked, and you turned back to look at him. The pokémon nuzzled your hand, so you began to stroke its soft head.

“Well, technically, I’m working for his cousin,” You said, then introduced yourself. He smiled and nodded at you.

“I’m Hala,” he replied, “The Kahuna of this island. And forgive my mistake. Samson was just telling me about the help you were providing him in his studies yesterday. I hear you’re a league champion in your region.”

“Yeah,” You admitted, shrugging, “at least, I was.” You briefly thought about your last battle with Lance and grimaced.

“Just because the tide goes out, does not mean that the water never filled the rock pools beyond the beach.” Hala said sagely. You turned to look at him, cocking an eyebrow. He noticed and chuckled softly.

“You should not deride your previous achievements just because they have run their course,” He clarified, “Samson had mentioned that the reason you were asked to take on this job was because you had more than proven yourself capable and trustworthy through your accomplishments.”

You tried to smile at him, but only half-managed. Neither Samson nor Hala knew that after you’d lost your championship title, you’d all but begged Professor Oak for a job, desperate for a new source of income as soon as possible in order to avoid moving back in with your mom. That was how you’d become Oak’s assistant in the first place, and you’d figured that the only reason he’d asked you to do this job was because you were the most experienced trainer out of all of his assistants. Your "accomplishments" had nothing to do with it, especially not if you couldn’t even hold onto them.

The little pokémon in your lap let out a soft yip, and you moved your hand to scratch under its chin.

“I just did what I had to,” you said, shrugging as you continued scratching the pokémon, letting it move its head under your fingers so that they’d catch on new places to scratch, “And anyway, in the end, my pokémon were the ones who really did all the work.” You looked at your bag and thought of Ho-Oh, Suicune, and Meganium, with their maxed out levels. You would never feel that you had the right to take the claim for their hard work.

“Perhaps that is what your employer trusts about you then,” Hala pointed out, then nodded toward the pokémon that was now nuzzling happily into your hand, begging for more, “You clearly have great respect for pokémon, and they have great respect for you, in return. Little Popplio there is usually far more rambunctious around strangers, but seems very content with you.”

You looked down at the little pokémon as you scratched it behind one of its ears. It let out another happy bark, producing a single bubble as it did so. You watched as the bubble floated up to your eye level, before suddenly popping, splashing you with a small bit of water. Before you could stop yourself, you were laughing in an almost automatic reaction. Hala chuckled gently next to you, and you turned to look at him. You suddenly remembered all of the questions you still had about the Kahunas and the Tapu, and figured now might be a good chance to talk to him about it.

“Maybe you’ve got a point,” You said suddenly, then leaned over to reach into your bag. Popplio hopped out of your lap and over to Hala’s as you dug through to find your pokéballs. When you found the two ultraballs holding your Ho-oh and Suicune, you pulled them out and held them out to Hala.

“What are these?” He asked, his voice curious.

“Two very rare pokémon from my home,” you explained, “People have told me that because I was able to catch these pokémon, I must be some kind of… special, chosen person. You know what I mean?”

You looked up to meet Hala’s eyes, your expression serious. You knew he did. All you had heard about the Kahunas had been from other sources about how great these trainers were for being chosen by their island’s deity pokémon. But if your experiences running into Eusine had taught you anything, it was that people who couldn’t encounter the pokémon they revered the most often had a tendency to put the ones who could upon a pedestal.

 Hala inclined his head now, his smile gone. He seemed to know where the conversation was going.

“But… I mean, it’s not like _I_ ever felt any more special after catching these,” You continued, looking down at the ultraballs in your hand, “Sure, the battles were tough, and these pokémon have been revered in the past, but-”

Hala’s hand was suddenly over yours, pushing your hand, and the pokéballs, back toward your bag.

“I have a friend who would probably be better for you to have this conversation with.” He said, a serene, calming smile back on his face, “Watch little Popplio, will you?”

Before you had time to protest, he had placed the pokémon beside you and pushed himself off of the platform. You had expected him to disappear into the crowd as Burnet did, but you couldn’t have lost him if you’d tried. Everyone who saw him wanted to say hello to him, to shake his hand, to chat. And, to your surprise, he indulged everyone to some degree.

In the end, he’d just been going to the Team Skull stand across from where you’d just been sitting, but it must have taken him nearly fifteen minutes to cross that short space. Once there, he tapped the shoulder of a gray-haired man standing in line. You watched as Hala and the man exchanged a few words, before Hala pointed over at you. The man he was talking to looked over and you locked eyes with him for a moment. You felt yourself jump at his unexpectedly serious face, but tried to cover your reaction with a half-hearted wave. Instead of waving back, he inclined his head in a barely perceptible nod of recognition before turning back to Hala.

As the two men stood together in line, talking with one another, you turned your attention to Popplio. It had made itself comfortable in your lap enough to the point where it had begun to doze off. Smiling, you reached down to pet its head again, and it responded by nuzzling back into your hand.

“You’re a precious little thing,” you said to it softly. It yapped back at you and settled back down, though it kept its big, dark eyes trained on yours. You wondered if there were many other pokémon like this on these islands. You’d have loved to have one of your own.

“Hey.” A flat voice suddenly spoke up in front of you, and you looked up to see the gray-haired man that Hala had been talking to. He was chewing on a fried slowpoke tail, and was alone.

“W-where’d Hala go?” you asked, stumbling over your words under his emotionless gaze. He jerked a thumb to his left and you looked over to see Hala standing near his house, talking to a very pretty young woman with dark skin and too many accessories to count.

“Makin’ the rounds with the Kahunas, I guess.” The man said with a shrug, hauling himself onto the platform next to you. You were beginning to feel like you were playing musical chairs.

“So she’s a Kahuna too?” you asked, looking over to the woman Hala was talking to. Much like Kukui, you found her to be surprisingly young and attractive for such a title.

“Yep. Her, Hala, and myself,” The man said with a sigh to his voice, “My name’s Nanu, by the way.” You looked at him. Popplio blew another bubble that drifted past the man’s head and out of sight.

“Samson told me I’d probably get to meet the Kahunas here.” You found yourself saying. Nanu nodded.

“Yeah, that’s right, you’re his assistant.” He said, rubbing his chin.

“His _cousin’s_ assistant.” You corrected bitterly, wrapping your arms around Popplio for comfort. As annoying as it was that everyone kept assuming you worked for Samson, you were more irritated by the thought that if Samson _had_ been your employer, maybe you would’ve gotten to stay in a hotel in the city last night like he had, instead of some cheap motel in the middle of nowhere. Then you wouldn’t have even had to have asked Guzma-

You stopped your thoughts right there. You shook head slightly, trying to clear it, before looking up at Nanu again.

“Anyway, Hala said you had some questions.” he said bluntly, and you found yourself blinking in surprise.

“W-well, not really _questions_ so much as…” you paused, looking for the right way to phrase things. Hala’s grandfatherly aura had made him easy to trust and talk to. You’d _wanted_ to ask him about his encounter with the Tapu, and whether or not he really felt like such a special person for it. He seemed wise and warm, and you felt like you could trust him to have a good answer for you. But Nanu was much more closed-off, and seemed to cool the very air around him with his disposition. You found yourself unable to form the right words.

“You were chosen as a trainer by some powerful pokémon, and you don’t know what’s so great about it.” Nanu said after you didn’t finish, and you looked at him with surprise once again.

“I… yeah…” You admitted, a little taken aback by how easily he’d put that out there. You suddenly realized why Hala had thought he’d be better to have this conversation with.

“You know, even though pokémon research within the last couple of decades has really exploded, there’s still a lot we don’t know about them,” Nanu said, “Including what makes them more prone to trust certain trainers than others. A lot of people think pokémon just have an extra sense that lets them tell which trainers are good and which ones aren’t but,” He paused for a moment to let out a half-hearted laugh, “to be honest, I don’t think that they’re any better than humans in that regard.”

“You really think that?” you asked, furrowing your brow.

“Well, yeah,” he said with a shrug, “maybe even worse. After all, it’s not like they can understand us any better than we understand them.”

His cold words made you pause. Sure, part of you had expected this answer, but still, weren’t Kahunas supposed to be reverent toward the pokémon that chose them? You wouldn’t have even spoken that way about your own pokémon, let alone one considered to be a deity.

“How can you say that?” You asked before you could stop yourself, and Nanu turned to look at you blankly. You found yourself suddenly frozen under his stare, and had to take a moment to re-gather your thoughts, clearing your throat before continuing, “That is, aren’t the Kahunas chosen by their island’s guardian Tapu? That means you must have been chosen too, so-”

“And you know how that turns out.” Nanu interrupted you, looking into your eyes. As you met his weary gaze, you began to realize something.

“You don’t like that it chose you, huh?” you found yourself asking him. The corner of his mouth twitched upward in the tiniest hint of a smile.

“If you wanna put it in the simplest possible terms,” he said, shrugging, “But here’s the thing. Having a pokémon like that trust you enough to come up to you is rare, sure, but it’s the kind thing that really could happen to anyone under the right circumstances. Having the skills to successfully battle a pokémon like that, however, is another thing entirely.”

You were both silent for a moment as you thought about what he said. He turned to stare blankly out at the crowd. As you watched him, you wondered what, exactly, his process of becoming a Kahuna had been.

“The Tapu do not belong to the Kahunas,” Nanu continued after a minute, “We are just chosen by them to enact their will. If anything, the Tapu are the masters of the Kahunas, not the other way around.”

Your pursed your lips. He seemed so pessimistic about it all.

“Is that really how it is?” you asked him, leaning forward in an attempt to see his face.

“That’s how it feels,” He admitted after a moment, rubbing his chin again, “Well, to me, anyway. I would’ve turned the job down if I could’ve.”

“Why didn’t you then?” You asked him. He shrugged.

“Why did you catch those pokémon?” he replied, turning to look at you now. You had to shake your head.

“That’s completely different.” You said, unconsciously gripping at your bag.

“Is it?” Nanu challenged. You narrowed your eyes and looked down at Popplio in your lap. A bubble was inflating and deflating with each breath as it slept soundly.

“It is,” you said after a moment, “because I wanted to catch these pokémon. After everything I went through leading up to it, how could I not?”

This time, the silence between you two was deafening.

“So,” Nanu said finally, a hint of a sarcastic smile appearing on his face, “You see what I’m talking about, then.”

You felt your face scrunch up. It almost felt like he was playing with you, albeit in a strangely dark way.

“Yeah, well,” You said, crossing your arms and looking away from Nanu now, “I still don’t see how my pokémon are anything like your Tapu. Ho-oh and Suicune, they avoided humans for as long as they could before…” You looked at your bag as you trailed off, unable to come up with a solid conclusion to your claim.

“Before they came to you?” Nanu finished for you. You shut your eyes tightly, not wanting to admit that he was right, though you knew that he was.

“B-but… Y-your Tapu… they seek out people all the time though, don’t they?” You said, trying to recall what you’d learned about this region. You knew that your reasoning was faulty, and that you were reaching the end of your rope in the argument. When he turned away from you to shake his head, you could feel a pit begin to form in your stomach.

“Never mind.” Nanu sighed suddenly, pushing himself off of the stage. He looked at you before speaking again.

“Hala will be having his sumo competition soon. You might want to move.”

You pulled a grumpy Popplio out of your lap before pushing yourself off of the platform as well, taking care to land on your good ankle. Nanu helped you to balance yourself before letting you go to stand on your own. Popplio stayed on the platform, yapping down at the two of you.

“I guess I just…” you started, keeping your voice soft. Nanu turned to look at you, as expressionless as ever. You took a deep breath. You had to get this out while you were still on the topic.

“I just don’t get why everyone goes so bonkers over people who encounter rare pokémon. I’ve never felt any different from anyone else, and I just… I don’t know, I’d hoped a Kahuna might understand that.” You thought of Eusine again as you looked down at your bag, remembering how hard he had worked all of his life to become the master of the very pokémon that you now kept with you.

“Well,” Nanu said, placing his hand heavily on your shoulder, “I don’t know exactly what the story is behind your pokémon, or how they chose you as a trainer. But if you had the skill to actually catch the only ones that are out there, and then to be able to use them in battle… You must be pretty special in that sense, at least.”

He let his hand slip off of your shoulder as he began to walk away. You were just about to call out to him, wanting to argue his point, but he disappeared into the crowd far easier than Hala had, and it wasn’t long before you lost sight of him entirely. From the stage beside you, Popplio yapped at you again, and so you scooped it up into your arms as you leaned against the stage.

“Hey cousin! Enjoying the festival?” A familiar voice rang out from behind you. You turned to see Kukui and Burnet hanging off of each other, each of them holding ice cream. While Burnet only held a single, strawberry cone, however, Kukui was holding a vanilla cone in one hand and a chocolate in the other. He held them out to you, and you eagerly grabbed one, wasting no time in digging in to the treat. The sun was high in the sky now, and now that Nanu was gone, you were becoming aware of how hot it was getting.

“Well, we’re gonna need to clear this area for the sumo competition soon,” Kukui said, nodding at the stage. You made a small noise in acknowledgement, trying to balance Popplio on your hip with one arm while you held the ice cream with your other hand.

“Is that Hala’s Popplio?” Burnet asked, nodding at the little pokémon.

“Oh, yeah, he told me to watch it.” You said, looking around, “By the way, where’d he go? Shouldn’t he want it back soon?”

“Well, that was one of the pokémon he was going to give to the trial-goers this year,” Kukui pointed out, “but since there were only two, this little guy was probably passed up.”

You looked down at the pokémon, suddenly feeling a little sad. You were reminded of when you’d first come to professor Oak’s lab at the start of your journey, and how, instead of having the choice between three pokémon that the kids of Pallet town had, you’d had to settle for the leftover Bulbasaur. You hadn’t been disappointed by the pokémon itself so much as your lack of choice, but the excited way it had looked up at you when you’d first sent it out struck your heart in a way that nothing ever had since. It broke your heart to think that this Popplio wouldn’t get to experience what your Bulbasaur had that day. You then realized it had been more than a year since you’d last visited Venusaur’s grave in Lavender town, but all you could do was bury the thought in your mind as you held Popplio a little closer to you.

Suddenly, your thoughts were interrupted as several large, scantily-clad men began to march up onto the platform, led by (a thankfully fully-dressed) Hala. They organized themselves in two lines as Hala stepped to the front, spreading his arms wide as he addressed the crowd.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” his voice boomed, “Your Island Kahuna is proud to present to you, the annual Iki Town Festival Sumo Tournament!”

“Oh yeah! That’s our cue to get going!” Kukui said to you, letting go of his wife to wrap an arm around you and help you hobble to across the plaza to bench that was sitting between a couple of stalls. You’d had to put Popplio down, but the pokémon stayed at your heel as you all made your way through the throngs of people. After sitting you down on the bench, though, it wasn’t long before Kukui disappeared off into the crowd again, leaving you and Burnet alone to watch the sumo competition together.

“Ah… I know sumo’s not his thing, but wouldn’t it be cool if The Masked Royal showed up?” Burnet asked after a short while, and you turned to look at her curiously.

“Who’s The Masked Royal?” you asked, tilting your head. You were immediately answered by Burnet letting out a shrill squeal.

“ONLY the greatest wrestler in the entire HISTORY of Alola!” she exclaimed, squeezing her hands together. There were practically stars in her eyes as she continued on in a rant about the apparently famous wrestler, not letting you get a word in edgewise.

“Y-you’re a really big fan, aren’t you?” You laughed once you found an opening, vaguely wondering how her husband felt about this obsession of hers.

“The absolute _biggest_!” Burnet insisted, kicking her legs like an excited child. You couldn’t hold back a laugh at it, and Popplio barked happily along with you.

As the afternoon went on, you found yourself meeting a rotation of new people who ended up coming up to greet you. The first was the pretty Kahuna you hadn’t met yet, and you learned that her name was Olivia. When she sat down to chat with you, Burnet disappeared again, but she was soon replaced by various other festival-goers coming to greet Olivia. In this way, you also met the only Trial Captain of Melemele Island, a young normal-type trainer named Ilima. He’d told you that at his trial site, a place called Verdant Cavern, there were plenty of Alolan variants, and you promised him that you’d make the time to check it out. At some point, Professors Kukui and Burnet came back with Lillie, and you’d even arranged to stay the night with them, since you didn’t have any reservations already made anywhere else.

By the time dusk began to fall, you were beginning to feel exhausted. But the ceremonial battle was about to start, so you willed yourself to stay alert as you watched the two young trainers finally take the stage.


	5. Chapter 5

Hala stood between the two trainers as he faced the crowd, his arms outstretched.

“May this pokémon battle be an offering to our island’s guardian deity – Tapu Koko!”

He turned to face the young boy with the bird pokémon standing (snoozing?) next to his ankles.

“Before you all stands Hau – grandson to the Kahuna,” Now Hala turned to the girl in the red hat on the other side of the stage, “Before him stands Moon – one who has met with Tapu Koko.”

At that a wave of murmurs swept through the crowd. You looked at Kukui who was grinning as he looked on. When he saw you looking at him, he met your eyes and winked.

“It’s true,” he said quietly, “there was an, ah, incident yesterday.” He turned back to face the stage, but he wasn’t looking at the two trainers. Instead, he was looking at Lillie, who had moved closer to the stage to get a better view. You were about to ask him to elaborate when Hala’s voice boomed again.

“Moon! Hau! Bring forth the power of your pokémon!”

The battle had begun.

Moon sent out a black-and-red striped cat pokémon, a fire-type that your new pokédex identified as “Litten”.

“Ha! I won’t fall for that this time!” Hau shouted, sending out a Pichu, “Tail whip!”

“Growl!” Moon ordered her Litten. You were somewhat surprised to see the two children start out with status-affecting moves instead of attacks. You’d almost never used them when you’d first started out. It had taken you many defeats to learn to appreciate their usefulness.

“Tail Whip!” Hau called out again.

“Boring!” you heard someone yell from the direction of the slowpoke tail stall. You looked over to see the boy grunt from earlier in front of the stall, snickering along with another, younger-looking one, and you rolled your eyes.

“Ember!” Moon ordered her Litten, earning several “ooh”s from the crowd. The Pichu squealed as it was hit, and looked like it was wincing as got back up. It had a nasty-looking burn where the attack had hit it.

“Yikes! Pichu! H-hang in there buddy, you can do this!” Hau exclaimed, “Thunder shock!”

The Pichu let loose a thunder shock on the Litten, which recoiled from the hit.

“Ember!” Moon commanded again, and the Litten spat more sparks at the Pichu. It took the hit, and for a moment looked like it was ready to go again, but then it suddenly collapsed from the previous burn.

“Oh no! That’s okay Pichu, come back!” Hau exclaimed, calling Pichu back into his pokéball. He turned to the apparently dozing bird pokémon at his feet.

“Now’s your time to shine Rowlet! Get out there!” The bird pokémon looked sleepily up at him, before shaking its feathers out. It let out a soft hoot as it waddled out to the middle of the ring to face Litten. The Popplio you’d been watching all day for Hala began to jump around in your lap, and you softly placed your hand on its head to settle it.

“Ember!” Moon ordered her Litten without hesitation. Now this was a strategy you were more used to seeing kids using. The attack did a significant amount of damage to the Rowlet, but didn’t burn it like it had the Pichu.

“Tackle!” Hau ordered, as Moon told Litten to use another Ember. The tackle did more damage than you’d expected it to, thanks to the earlier tail whips, and with its health low, Moon finally withdrew her Litten. In its place, she sent out a Rattata, the first Alolan one you’d seen. It was somewhat smaller and stockier than the ones you were used to, and its coat was much darker and fluffier.

You couldn’t help but smile. Your own first capture had been a Rattata, and you wondered if this one was hers as well.

“Leafage!” Hau commanded, and the Rowlet responded by kicking up a small whirlwind that stirred the leaves around its feet, and pelted them at the Rattata.

“Quick Attack!” Moon ordered, and it was over before Hau and Rowlet could react. The Rowlet, already weakened by the two embers, finally fell at the quick attack.

Moon had won the battle. The crowd erupted into cheers as Hala stepped back up onto the stage. You had to consciously remind yourself not to spring to your feet in a standing ovation along with Burnet and Kukui, given your injury. Even Popplio was hopping around in your lap again, barking enthusiastically, as if trying to join in with the crowd. You could see Hau say something to Moon, who just smiled and went up to shake his hand.

“What a great battle!” Hala called out, settling the crowd a bit, “With this, even Tapu Koko-”

Suddenly, Hala’s voice was cut off by a shrill cry. Everyone’s eyes turned to the sky, searching for the source, but it was nowhere to be seen. Still, the call of a pokémon rang out clearly through the evening air once more, and this time the murmurs that swept through the crowd were soft with reverence.

“Ho!” Hala called out after a moment, “You heard it yourself, Tapu Koko’s song of approval!”

And with that, the crowd burst out into cheers once more, as Hala turned to talk to the two young trainers.

“Wasn’t that great?!” Kukui exclaimed, punching the air, “This festival always pumps me up! Oh yeah!”

Burnet giggled, and you couldn’t stop grinning yourself. Popplio jumped around in and out of your lap in its own enthusiasm, yapping loudly. Kukui noticed and let out a loud laugh himself.

“You were excited to see your friends battle, huh?” He asked the Popplio, leaning down until he was eye-level with it. Popplio barked back, emitting a bubble from its snout that drifted over to pop on Kukui’s nose.

“I was surprised to see them battle so strategically,” you admitted, nodding at the stage as Hau and Moon stepped down from it, “When I was their age, I’d just pick a move and use it over and over again until one of the pokémon fainted. If they already know how to strategize like that, they’ll definitely do great on their challenge.”

At that, Kukui straightened up and looked at you.

“You know, that reminds me, cousin,” he began, “Samson and I were talking earlier and, well, we were thinking maybe it might be a good idea for you to tag along with Hau and Moon while they complete their challenges, y’know?  They’ll be travelling all over the islands, so you’ll definitely get all the chances you could need to catch your variants, yeah?”

You looked up at him blankly, unsure if you had heard him right.

“I… are you saying I should-” you started, but Kukui interrupted you.

“I’m not saying you should do the island challenge yourself,” he said, then paused, a thoughtful look on his face, “Well, unless you really wanted to, but you’d probably want to talk to Hala and your boss about that.”

You laughed and shook your head.

“I think I’m good on the challenge,” you said, “but maybe following those two around on their journey would be a good idea.”

He had a point, after all. You knew that you would have to travel the islands to catch all of the pokémon that Oak wanted you to anyway. And these kids would know where they were going better than you would. Besides, watching them battle had reminded you of just how fresh they were as trainers, and you couldn’t help but feel a sort of nostalgic affection toward them. Sure, you weren’t about to agree to babysit them, but whenever you thought back to your very first journey through Kanto at their age, you always thought about how you would have appreciated some guidance through those earliest days. Maybe this could be a chance to help the next generation, and make things a little better for them than they had been for you.

“Yeah,” you said after a minute, “Yeah, I think I’ll do that.”

“Excellent!” Kukui exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air once again, “I’ll let the old man know right away!”

And with that, he’d disappeared, though whether to find Hala or Samson, you did not know.

“P-Professor!” Lillie’s voice suddenly rang out, and you looked up to see her pushing through the crowds to reach the bench you and Burnet were still sitting at. She looked absolutely exhausted, and you had to sympathize with her. Burnet noticed this as well and stood up.

“Are you ready to go home, Lillie?” she asked the girl, who nodded vigorously. Burnet smiled at her and then turned to you, holding out her hand.

“Actually,” you said, glancing over at Team Skull’s still-open food stall, catering to the lingering crowds, “I think I’ll catch up with you. I still have to make sure Popplio gets back to Hala, and all.”

Burnet followed your gaze to the stall, then looked back at you. Her mouth split into a smirk.

“Right,” she said, turning around and putting a hand on Lillie’s shoulder, but still keeping her eye on you, “Well, don’t come back too late, okay? It will be a bother if we have to wake up to let you in.”

She winked at you, her smirk now a wide, conspiratorial grin, and she led a confused-looking Lillie off to the stairs and out of the plaza. Your face was absolutely burning, and you found yourself grabbing Popplio into a tight hug, trying to find some form of comfort. Popplio rested its snout on your shoulder in return, and you immediately felt yourself settle a bit.

“Thanks, little buddy,” you said, rubbing its back gently. It squealed happily in response and nuzzled into your shoulder. With a smile at Popplio, you turned back to eye Team Skull’s stall. Even though many of the other vendors were in the process of packing up for the day, the line for fried Slowpoke tails was still several people long, with more tacking themselves on for one more final treat before the end of the festival. You shivered. How could people eat that stuff? Sure it was tasty, but…

You shook off the visual memory of the helpless, tailless slowpoke in Azalea town. _That was different though_ , you told yourself, _That was poaching. That was Rocket._

Suddenly, Popplio began yapping again, right in your ear this time. With a yelp, you yanked it away from your shoulder, holding it out in front of you at arm’s length. The little pokémon began to wiggle, trying to bark at something behind it – in front of you.

When you looked up, you saw Hala approaching, and smiled at him. He waved his arms in the traditional greeting, and you set Popplio back in your lap so that you could mirror the motion.

“Did you enjoy yourself today?” He asked once he was close enough. You nodded.

“As much as I could, given the circumstances,” you joked, swinging your injured leg. It was starting to feel a little better, though you still didn’t trust yourself to walk on it. Popplio hopped out of your lap at the movement, settling next to you instead. You smiled and patted its head.

“I guess it’s time for you to head home now though, huh little buddy?” You said, and it responded by nuzzling back into your hand. You heard Hala chuckle quietly.

“Come on now,” he said, leaning over to scoop Popplio up in his arms.

“Where can I catch one of those?” You asked Hala, nodding at the little pokémon. You really did want one for your own after having spent the day with this one.

“You’d have a hard time finding one of these in the wild, I’m afraid,” Hala said, “The pokémon given to trial challengers are specially bred by the Kahunas. That’s not to say that it would be impossible, but they are extremely rare.”

“Oh…” You said softly, frowning at the ground for a moment, before looking back up at him, “Do you know where? Because, well, if I’m going to be following those kids on their challenge, then maybe-”

Hala put up a hand, silencing you.

“Please try not to worry about it,” he insisted, “You have a job to do here, yes? It will probably be in your own best interest to focus your efforts on that, so that you may complete it to the best of your abilities.”

You sighed softly. He was right and you knew it. You nodded at him, then automatically turned your attention back to the Slowpoke tail stall, which was now serving its last customers.

“I understand that it can be difficult, being in a new place,” Hala spoke up, following your gaze, “especially when there are… distractions to be found everywhere.”

The way he hesitated on the word “distractions” made you turn back to him. You could already feel the blood draining out of your face. There was no way he knew about you and Guzma too, right? Then again, you’d already experienced how quickly rumors seemed to spread in the island community. You decided to try to take control of the conversation this time, before it started going in some direction that you didn’t want it to again.

“I guess I just can’t bring myself to trust anyone who sells Slowpoke tail,” You said, nodding in the direction of the stall, “The last people I came across selling it was Team Rocket, and they…” you trailed off, narrowing your eyes. After a moment, you felt Hala’s hand come down to rest heavily on your shoulder. Looking back up at him, you saw him smiling gently down at you.

“You do not need to concern yourself with Team Skull’s affairs. They are nothing like Team Rocket.” he said, and for the first time, you really believed it. You looked back over to the stall.

“I know. I guess I was just afraid that they were up to something similar,” You admitted quietly, “Like… Earlier, I sort of just reacted without thinking about it.”

"So that's what was going on," Hala chuckled warmly before going on, “But you should not worry about feeling like you need to do anything about them. Team Skull is under the supervision of the Kahunas, and therefore the Tapu. As long as you avoid them, you will be unburdened by any of their nonsense.”

There was a moment of silence as you looked back at Hala. He was cradling the squirming Popplio in his arms, and gazing over at the stall where the Team Skull grunts were beginning to pack up now.

“I would not have allowed them to participate in this festival, even as vendors, if I believed that any part of their business was illegitimate.” He said finally, and you looked over at the stall once more. He did have a point. They hadn’t caused any sort of disturbance during the day, and really did seem to just be trying to turn a profit. Even now, as the grunts continued to pack up, you could see them counting both inventory and profits, seriously talking business with each other.

 “It is better to give them this opportunity,” Hala continued, “than to force them to try to come up with their own means of getting by.”

“And he did say he was an opportunist,” You found yourself muttering aloud before you could stop yourself. The moment you realized what you’d said, you clamped your mouth shut, praying Hala hadn’t heard you. You looked back up at him, and saw him smiling down at you. You could feel your cheeks burning again.

“Well, you get back safe,” Hala said, turning back toward his home. You were about to breathe a sigh of relief when he continued, “And please try to remember my advice about dealing with your distractions!”

So he had heard you. Embarrassed, you buried your face in your hands as you tried to collect yourself. You were just about to move your hands to reach for your bag when you felt someone sit down next to you on the bench, so close to you that you could smell the spicy scent of their cologne.

You jumped a little when you realized it was Guzma who had just sat down, and that he was positively leering down at you.

“So,” he said, leaning toward you slightly, “didja wanna continue our, uh, conversation from earlier?”

His voice was low, despite the fact that the plaza was nearly empty now. His hand brushed yours, and you jerked it away from him automatically.

“Aw, come on now. Don’t play hard to get, I saw you checkin’ out the business lookin’ for me.”

“I wasn’t looking for you,” you told him truthfully.

“Y’know, you’re really bad at lyin’,” he responded, leaning in more as he tried to get a better look at your face.

“I wasn’t lying.” You said, turning to look him directly in the eye. For a moment, you thought you saw his confident smile falter slightly under your serious gaze, and though he quickly recovered, you couldn’t help but smile a little to yourself at having apparently flustered him this time.

“Well, you were definitely scopin’ it out pretty hard all day,” He said, looking over to the stall himself, laughing a bit as he continued, “I told ya the product’s legit. You really don’t trust Big Bad Guzma, do ya?”

“It’s not that,” you clarified, shaking your head, and trying your hardest not to burst out laughing at the title he'd given himself, “I trust _you_ , I guess, I just don’t… I don’t know, I don’t trust the market, I guess?”

When you looked back at him, he was grinning.

“Ya trust _me_?” He repeated, leaning in again. You wondered if he’d even heard the other half of your sentence. You took a deep breath before answering him, choosing your words carefully.

“Sure,” You shrugged in an effort to seem casual, though you were finding yourself leaning slightly toward him now as well, “I mean, Meowth aside, you haven't exactly been doing much to give me a reason not to. You’ve only tried to help me out since, after all.”

“Trustin’ the wrong person’d be a pretty bad decision, y’know.” He was whispering, but he was so close to you now that it didn’t matter.

“What if I don’t think you’re the wrong person though?” You replied, your voice as soft as his. You were purposefully challenging him now. Perhaps it wasn’t the wisest thing to do, you thought, but if you were being honest, the small rush you felt every time you gained an upper hand in your game with him was as addicting as any you’d get after a pokémon battle. He seemed to think that you were some kind of an easy target, and, like many other trainers before him, you wanted to show him how wrong he was.

With satisfaction, you noticed his grin drop again for just a moment as he swallowed thickly, but it quickly settled back in place as he squeezed your hand.

“Do ya wanna find out?” He whispered. You nodded, smiling coyly. You decided that you wanted to see how far you could take this chance, now that there was no one coming to interrupt you. His grin grew wider as he let go of your hand. He got off of the bench and squatted in front of you, his back to you. You noticed that the back of his hoodie bore the stylized S-symbol that was the Team Skull logo.

“Hop on, I got someplace I wanna show ya.” He said, looking over his shoulder at you.

“I-I can walk!” you exclaimed, your face suddenly burning once again. You couldn’t actually walk, and you knew this, but you weren’t exactly keen on giving up so much control over the situation so suddenly.

“This’ll be faster,” Guzma nevertheless insisted. You clutched your bag, and reminded yourself of your three powerful pokémon within. You knew they would protect you if you needed them to.

“All right, then.” You said finally. You grabbed onto his shoulder for a moment as you balanced yourself on your good foot, and then moved to wrap both of your arms around him, leaning against his back as you did so. In one, swift movement, he grabbed both of your thighs and hauled you up against him, causing you to tighten your grip in an automatic reaction. He chuckled, then stood up, and you almost lost your balance again. You pressed yourself against him, clutching the front of his hoodie tightly. Beneath you, you could feel him inhale sharply. You tried to ignore how you could also feel his thumbs tracing small circles over your bare thighs.

“It ain’t far,” he said as he began walking around the stage in the center of the plaza. He was heading for the trail leading away from town, and, for a moment, you began to get a little nervous. You unconsciously tightened your grip around him, and he responded by shifting your weight in his arms.

“I promise,” he said, his voice sounding actually genuine as he kept his eyes trained straight ahead, “you’ll love this place.”

You briefly wondered what made him think that he knew you well enough to make such a promise, but that thought was soon replaced by the realization that this place Guzma was taking you to was actually kind of far from the plaza. You’d been walking up a trail that zig-zagged up a hill for several minutes now, and the way Guzma kept shifting you in his arms made you realize that even he was starting to get tired.

Soon, however, the trail finally opened up, revealing a breathtaking scene. A ravine was carved into the landscape immediately in front of you, the remnants of a bridge staked to each side. To your left was a beautiful waterfall, feeding the river cutting through the ravine. Most stunning of all, however, was the way that the full moon hanging low in the sky reflected off of the spray from the waterfall, creating a full-spectrum moon bow.

“Oh my god…” You whispered, trying to see as much as you could from your vantage point. Guzma laughed softly beneath you and carried you over to near the edge of the cliff. There, he set you down, helping you settle into a comfortable sitting position before setting himself on the ledge, dangling a foot off the edge of the cliff as he looked at you.

“Ain’t it beautiful?” he asked, grinning. You continued looking around, noticing the tops of the roofs of Iki town just visible at the bottom of the hill. Out in the distance, past the trees of Route 1, you could even see the glowing lights of Hau’Oli city’s tallest buildings. Beyond that was the dark sea, which gave way to a swathe of stars at the horizon.

“I… I’ve never seen anything like this before.” You breathed, unable to come up with anything else to say. There was nowhere in Kanto or Johto that provided such a stunning view. You couldn’t think of any words to describe the beauty of the scene before you if you'd tried. The waterfall rushed behind you, spraying you lightly with mist whenever the breeze blew in your direction. Guzma reached for your hand again. This time, you responded by taking his in your own, holding onto it gently. You felt him freeze for just a moment, before he interlocked his fingers with yours.

“Me neither.” He said softly, and you turned to look at him. He was staring right at you, his smile as cocky as ever, but in a somewhat gentler way that better matched his voice. You could feel your heart pounding in your throat now. He leaned in toward you, and before you knew what you were doing, you were leaning in as well. When his other hand reached up to touch your jaw, you leaned into it this time, closing your eyes. You heard him inhale sharply.

His lips were soft against yours at first. You pressed back into the kiss, and he responded by sliding his hand from your jaw to the back of your neck, pulling you even deeper in. After a moment of this, you pulled back just enough for a breath, and opened your eyes to look into his. He met your gaze, searching it, looking almost worried at your sudden halt.

You pressed your mouth against his again, and he kissed you back, more roughly this time. When he parted his mouth against yours, you wasted no time in following suit, letting your tongue slide past his lips. He met your tongue with his own, then pushed past it to explore your mouth. Following his lead, you also tried to taste as much of him as you could before pulling away again to catch your breath.

As if still desperate for contact, Guzma leaned his forehead against yours, panting as he tried to catch his own breath.

“So,” he said after a moment, looking back into your eyes, “ya still think you can trust me?”

You nodded, unable to say anything else. How could you, after that? Guzma ran his hand down the back of your neck, settling it between your shoulder blades. He leaned in again, putting his lips to your ear.

“And do ya think that’s a good or bad decision?” He whispered. You shivered at the feeling of his warm breath washing over your skin.

Instead of answering him, you turned your head slightly, and buried your face in his hair. It felt exactly as soft against your cheeks as you’d imagined, and you inhaled deeply as you nuzzled into his scalp. You could smell the sharp, chlorinated odor of bleach, but it was mostly overpowered by the now familiar spiciness of his cologne and another, subtle scent that you could only assume was his own.

Truthfully, you didn’t know whether this would be a good or bad decision yet. But it was the one you had made, and the one you would have to deal with, sooner or later.

Guzma turned his head to catch your lips again, and you kissed him back softly as your bag began to buzz. You broke away from him to look at it, then turned your eyes to the moon. It wasn’t high in the sky by any means yet, but it had risen noticeably farther in the time you had spent here.

“Shit…” you muttered, “What time is it? I… I gotta get going.”

Guzma stared at you for a moment, looking visibly put out.

“Ya sure?” He asked quietly, his thumb running over the back of your hand. You turned away from him, grabbing at your bag with your free hand. With some difficulty, you managed to dig your pokédex out. There was a missed text from an unknown number, asking if you were on your way back to “the house” yet. You figured it was from either Kukui or Burnet, checking up on you. You glanced at the time.

“It’s already after 9?!” you exclaimed. Guzma checked his watch.

“Yeah,” he said, sounding a little disappointed. He squeezed your hand softly as you brought up the ride paging app. Then he reached out for you again, and gently turned your face back towards his.

“You really gotta go, though?” he asked, letting his grin creep back onto his face, “And here I thought you were enjoyin’ yourself.”

“W-well yeah but-” you stopped yourself before you could go on much farther, and you watched Guzma’s grin grow ever-wider.

“But you’re afraid of bein' out with a bad guy like me, aren’t ya?” He was leaning in again. You swallowed thickly, but shook your head.

“The people I’m staying with tonight don’t want me coming back too late,” You said finally, “I think they’re already starting to get worried.” You leaned your head slightly into his touch, and he pulled you toward him. You let him kiss you again, and you tried to linger for as long as you could before trying to pull away.

He wouldn’t let you, not yet. He moved his hand around to the back of your neck again, keeping you in place. His lips parted against yours again, and soon he was pushing his tongue past your teeth and into your mouth. You indulged him, not actually wanting to part with him, but it wasn’t long until you pulled away again, more purposefully this time. He tried to go in once more the moment your lips left his, but you turned your head, and put your hand gently to his chest.

“Seriously… I probably should get going,” you said, and he finally let his fingers fall from your jaw, tracing down your neck lightly before drawing away entirely. You had to shake off a shiver.

Picking up your pokédex, you tapped the app for the ride pager and called for a Tauros. Guzma watched you, leaning over your shoulder to see the screen of your dex.

“Hm. When didja get that setup?” He asked, nodding at the pokédex in your hands, “Didn’t you have some janky old one yesterday?”

“Yeah… I got this one this morning though, from the person I’m staying with.” You said with a smile, “The professor, Kukui. It’s amazing how much more handy this is from my old one.”

Guzma wasn’t smiling anymore. He pulled away from you somewhat, sitting upright as he pulled something out from his own pocket.

“Well,” he said, not looking at you suddenly, “if that’s where you’re off to, I ain’t gonna hold ya here any longer.”

You inclined your head. What was with the sudden change in attitude? He’d just been so reluctant to let you leave…

“Guzma,” you started, and he turned back to look at you, his eyes locked on yours. You opened your mouth again, wanting to tell him that you looked forward to seeing him again, or maybe even ask for his number, when you heard the pounding gallop of your summoned Tauros coming up the trail. You turned your head just in time to see the pokémon reaching you, coming to a stop where the trail opened. Then, you looked back to Guzma and immediately lost your words.

He met your eyes, then leaned forward again, stealing one last peck from you before pulling away to stand up. When he reached his hand out to help you up, you noticed how he was looking at just about everything but you, and was frowning. You took his hand and let him help you stand.

By the time he’d helped you onto the Tauros, a Charizard had landed behind him near where the two of you had just been sitting. It eyed him impatiently, letting out a loud huff of air as Guzma made sure you were settled. He let his hands linger on your waist for longer than necessary, but once you both were sure that you were secure, he let go of you and turned toward the Charizard. You watched him as he walked away from you, hunched over more than usual, and began to feel something of an ache in your chest. You didn’t want to leave it like this.

“Um,” you started once more. Guzma stopped in his tracks, and turned to look at you. You smiled as you continued, “See you around? Maybe some other time when I don’t have a curfew.”

His grin spread back across his face.

“Now _that’s_ a bad decision,” he laughed, then winked at you, “But you got it babygirl.”

You watched him cross over to the Charizard and climb onto its saddle. He glanced at you one last time, grinning and winking again before taking off into the sky.

For a moment, you stayed where you were, gazing into the starry sky after him. Had you really just had a romantic tryst under the stars with the leader of a criminal organization? It didn’t sound like it could be true, but it definitely had just happened. And as if that wasn't enough, you'd even asked to see him again!

You thought about the advice Hala and Kukui had given you earlier that day. _Just focus on your job_ , that’s what they’d told you to do. But the way your heart was pounding and the way your lips were tingling and the way your cheeks were burning…

You turned the Tauros to head down the trail, sighing. This was starting to get very complicated.

Suddenly, your Tauros stopped dead in its tracks. You were about to urge it onward, when a very peculiar sensation overtook you. It was like the air was suddenly filled with static electricity. Every tiny hair on your arms and neck stood on end, and you turned toward the source of this sudden wave of electricity.

Floating over the ravine, between the two end posts of where a bridge once was, was a sight that nearly made you jump out of your skin.

There was a massive, bird-like head staring right at you. It was gold in color, but its eyes weren’t reflective. In fact, they almost looked more like false markings than actual eyes.

Suddenly, a crack appeared right down the middle of the head, splitting it into two halves. With a rumble, they parted to reveal the black body of a pokémon, each half of the “head” forming armor plates over its hands, or were they wings? It stared directly at you, and you could do little but stare back. For the briefest moment, you considered engaging it, or at least pulling out your pokédex to try to identify it, but the crackling electricity in the air was all but paralyzing you.

After what felt like an eternity, the pokémon finally turned away from you, and you watched as it shot up into the sky and flew off over the waterfall. As it disappeared, it let out a familiar cry that you recognized from the end of the battle earlier that evening. The cry of Tapu Koko. You supposed you didn’t need your pokédex after all.

When you finally felt like you could move again, you urged the Tauros back toward Iki Town, letting it run down the hill at a full charge. You let up when the trail opened back up to the now-empty town plaza, and trotted around the stage, where you noticed Hau sitting with his Rowlet, which was clearly awake now. You waved at him as you passed, mostly because he waved at you first, but quickly turned your attention back to your ride. After all that you had gone through today, you were beginning to feel completely wiped out, and had to focus all of your attention on moving forward just to keep going.

Before long, you were back on the beach where Kukui’s house sat, clambering down from the Tauros as best you could. It was significantly more difficult given your exhaustion, and you ended up putting more weight on your injured foot than you intended to, which caused you to stumble, but you managed to hold your balance enough to remain standing and hobble over to the house.

Kukui answered the door before you’d barely finished knocking, a worried look in his eyes that quickly melted when he saw you smiling wearily at him. He helped you over to the couch, where you noticed a whole set up of blankets and pillows. Burnet was sitting on the other end of the L, watching TV. She turned to you as you came in, and put a finger to her lips, pointing up to the loft.

“Lillie’s asleep,” she said quietly once you were close enough to hear, “So, did you have fun today?”

There was a conspiratorial tone to her voice that immediately reminded you of what you and Guzma had spent the last hour doing. You blushed and stared hard at the pile of blankets and pillows instead of answering, but just that told her everything she wanted to know. She grinned widely, and winked at her husband as he helped you settle onto the couch.

“Told you everything was fine,” She said to him, then stood up and stretched, “You probably didn’t need to check in on her after all.”

“Sorry if I don’t want Kanto’s pokémon professor suing me for damages to his assistants!” Kukui retorted with a quiet laugh as he walked over to her and slid his arm around her waist. You instantly remembered the feeling of Guzma’s hands on your own when he’d helped you onto the Tauros.

“Well, considering how she already got hurt on your property, babe…” Burnet pointed out, clearly intending to continue the sentence, but you interrupted her.

“I did that to myself,” you pointed out with a very tired smile. Had that really only happened that morning? It felt like it had been days ago at this point. You were going to say something else, as you settled back into the couch, but you blinked slowly instead, and when you opened your eyes again, the room was dark.

Turning over, you decided to surrender to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just say thanks to you guys for all the kudos?? You all rock, and I'm so happy you're liking my story that I started writing purely for self-indulgence. A few of you have written the stuff that inspired me to do it in the first place, so extra thanks to you guys!!
> 
> Unfortunately, updates will be slowing down a little bit so I can catch up a little more (I haven't even written the next Guzma scene yet!). So I appreciate your patience, and the next chapter will probably be up in a little more than a week from now!


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, you were awoken by the sound and smell of breakfast being made in the kitchen. After a few moments of tossing and turning, unsuccessfully trying your best to steal just a bit more sleep, you finally sat up.

You were somewhat surprised to see Kukui at the stove, humming quietly to himself as he flipped a pancake in a pan. As he turned his attention to another frying pan, crackling with the sound of bacon, he noticed you sitting up and waved.

“Good morning cousin!” He said to you with a big grin, “You hungry? Breakfast is almost ready.”

“Mm… gimme a few minutes…” you mumbled, rubbing your eyes of the sleep that had built up over the night.

“Well, you want some coffee, at least?” He offered, grabbing a mug from the cupboards before you could answer. Soon, he’d poured you a cup and was bringing it over.

“No tea today?” you asked, taking the mug from him when he approached. He laughed.

“That’s more Burnet’s preference,” he said, “I like my coffee, so when it’s my turn to make breakfast, that’s what I go for. I could make you a cup of tea though if you really want.”

“Nah, coffee’s fine. But thanks,” you said, then took a long sip from your mug. It was smooth and slightly sweet, but with just a little bite to it – the perfect thing after waking up.

“It is a little surprising though,” you continued after a moment, causing Kukui to turn back to you, “I wouldn’t think that you and Burnet would be on opposite sides of the whole coffee vs. tea thing. You guys seem so perfect for each other otherwise.”

Kukui let out a hearty laugh, and you glanced up at Lillie’s loft. Wasn’t she still asleep up there? You hadn’t heard or seen any movement since you woke up.

“Well, I guess when you get married, you learn to come to agreements about things like that,” He said, sliding the finished pancake onto the top of a short stack of already-made ones, and began pouring more batter into the pan to start another. You smiled at him. He and his wife certainly seemed to work well together.

“Where is Burnet, by the way?” you asked, looking around. Other than the sounds of Kukui making breakfast and his pokémon scampering around, the house seemed totally quiet.

“Ah, she and Lillie went out to get Moon for me. Well, Lillie’s getting Moon for me, Burnet’s getting you some medicine for your ankle. But I just got an upgrade for the kid’s pokédex! I’m pretty excited about it!” He exclaimed. Well, at least that explained why he wasn’t hushing his voice. You reminded yourself that you’d have to thank Burnet when she returned.

Kukui continued to chatter on about the upgrade parts as he finished making breakfast, telling you about how he would be able to use them to affix a Rotom to the girl’s dex. It would be very convenient, he continued, (bringing you over a plate with two large fluffy pancakes, sided with bacon) seeing as how the pokémon would even be able to communicate in human language through the pokédex. As you listened, you took the plate and began digging in eagerly, your appetite awakening at the sight of the food. It was delicious, and by the time Kukui had served himself, you were already halfway through your first pancake.

You and Kukui chatted through breakfast, him telling you about his research on pokémon attacks while you shared with him some stories of the pokémon you’d encountered in Kanto and Johto. You tried to avoid the topic of legendaries, but Kukui was having none of it. He’d seen the contents of your pokédex when he’d transferred the information from your old one yesterday, and had become intensely curious about your pokémon in the time since. He seemed to be especially focused on finding out about the moves your Suicune and Ho-Oh knew.

“You _gotta_ at least let me know if your Ho-Oh knows Sacred Fire!” Kukui was practically begging you as he cleared the empty dishes.

“Ugh, okay, well yeah, I wasn’t going to have it learn something else over that, but I still don’t like using it unless it’s necessary,” you were explaining. He had made it very clear that he was most interested in seeing a demonstration of their attacks, if possible, but you weren’t exactly keen on forcing your most powerful pokémon into a meaningless battle just to sate Kukui’s curiosity.

“Oh, come on! Just once! I just wanna see what it’s like!” Kukui went on, dropping a scrap of leftover bacon in his haste. Rockruff scampered over to scarf the piece down, almost causing Kukui to trip over the little pokémon as he turned back toward the living room, coffee pot in hand.

“Look, I just don’t want to hurt any of your pokémon, okay?” you said as he refilled your cup, nodding at the Rockruff, “They’re all small and really don’t deserve it.”

“Then have it demonstrate it on me!” Kukui offered, almost too eagerly. You almost choked on your coffee.

“Are you _serious_?!” you gasped once you were able to speak again. You gaped at him as he nodded enthusiastically.

“Absolutely!” He insisted, jerking his thumb to his chest, “I can take anything a pokémon can dish out! Bring it on!”

“Absolutely _not_!” You cried back, almost slamming your coffee mug down, “It’d kill you!”

“You don’t know that! Come on, this is how I do most of my research,” Kukui said, then turned to the Rockruff, assuming a wrestling stance, “Here, I’ll show you. Come on Rockruff, let’s go! My body is ready!”

You stared, wide-eyed, as Kukui’s Rockruff full-on tackled its owner, howling enthusiastically. Kukui grunted as he landed heavily on the ground with a THUD that shook the whole house.

“A tiny dog is _not_ the same-!” you began, but were cut off by the front door swinging open as Lillie and Moon came running in.

“Is everything all right?” Moon asked the professor while Lillie rubbernecked, looking at every wall, the floor, even the ceiling, as if checking for structural damages. She was doing it almost methodically, and you wondered how often Kukui got up to this sort of nonsense.

“Oh yeah! Everything’s fine! Thanks for coming by! And thanks for getting her for me, Lillie!” Kukui said to the girls. They barely had a chance to respond before Kukui was excitedly explaining to Moon about the Rotomdex. You found yourself staring at the Rotom when Kukui let it out to float freely. You’d never seen one in real life before, and its bright, electric body was hard to look away from. But it wasn’t long until Kukui had merged it with the pokédex, and you found yourself giggling as the entire device began enthusiastically flying and buzzing through the air. Moon was staring at it with wide eyes as it floated in front of her, greeting her happily in a buzzing voice.

A few minutes later, there was another enthusiastic knock on the door, and Hau quickly let himself into the house without waiting for anyone to answer.

“A-lo-la everyone!” he greeted, looking around the room. When his eyes landed on you, he quickly ran up to the couch, grinning.

“Hey, I didn’t get to meet you properly yet!” he said, waving his arms in the traditional motion, “Grampa told me how you’re gonna be going with me and Moon on our island challenge! My name is Hau! Is it true you’re an Indigo League Champion?!”

You laughed as you introduced yourself back to him, telling him that yes, you had held the title until very recently.

“Well, that’s okay!” Hau insisted, “It’s still pretty cool that you could do it at all!” He grinned widely at you, and, despite the conversation topic, it was impossible for you to not grin right back. The kid’s positive enthusiasm was absolutely infectious.

“I’m looking forward to tagging along with you guys,” You said, first to him, but then turning to address Moon as well, “I really hope we’ll be able to help each other out!”

“Heck yeah! This is gonna be so cool!” Hau exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. He turned to sit down on the couch next to you, but he plopped himself right on your injured foot, which was still outstretched under the blanket.

The pain nearly blinded you for an instant. Your loud yelp caused everyone to turn to stare at you, even the Rotomdex, and Hau was immediately back on his feet, apologies running out of his mouth like water from a faucet. You assured him that it was fine, it was only an accident after all, but the kid still looked frantic. In an attempt to change the subject, he locked his eyes on the ladder to Lillie’s loft.

“Hey, what’s that! Is that a loft? How cool!” He exclaimed suddenly, running over to the ladder. Lillie, however, was a white blur, beating him to it and blocking it with her body.

“I-it’s not!” She huffed, “It’s private!”

“Why, what’s up there?” Hau challenged, standing on his tip-toes to try to see anything from his short vantage point.

“Honestly Hau, you should know that it’s rude to be nosy about a girl’s private business.” You spoke up, smiling at him. He was such a typical little kid. Next to him, you saw Lillie give you a relieved smile.

Hau’s eyes went wide as he looked up at the loft, and then back to Lillie.

“Yikes! I’m sorry Lillie, I didn’t know!” He apologized, bowing to her.

“I-it’s okay… It’s just, the professor has been kind enough to let me use it…” She looked nervously at Kukui, as if seeking his approval. He smiled and nodded.

“Well, when you see a person or pokémon who needs help, you just help them,” He grinned at the kids, then at you, “right, cousin?”

“Well yeah,” you agreed, “There’s little else you can do in a situation like that.”

For some reason, that didn’t seem to be the answer Kukui was expecting from you. Instead of an enthusiastic agreement like you’d come to expect from him, he gave you a sort of confused smile before turning back to the kids.

“Anyway, that’s why I’m letting Lillie stay in the loft,” he told them, then began on a spiel about the island challenges, effectively changing the subject. You listened as he and Lillie explained that Hau and Moon would each have to complete a total of seven trials, and then defeat the four Kahunas of each island before they could be declared champions of the challenge.

That last detail gave you pause. You’d been under the impression that there were only three Kahunas, and that you’d met them all at the festival. Who was this fourth one?

As Kukui finished, he reached into his pocket and presented an amulet to Moon. It was beautiful, a shining gold pendant inlaid with four colorful stones, and a beaded strap looped to the top. He said that all island challengers carried these amulets, and as Moon attached hers to her bag, Hau pulled out his own to show off.

“Well, you kids probably should get going to the trainer’s school before you start on your trials,” Kukui said finally, nodding at Hau and Moon, “You’ll want to learn as much as you can before you get started on your journey. Lillie, show Moon around while she gets used to her Rotomdex, okay?”

“O-okay,” Lillie agreed, nodding, then turning to the other two, “Shall we get going then?”

“I think I’m good, actually,” Hau said, shrugging his shoulders, “I just want to play, er… that is, train with my pokémon! Yeah!”

“I guess it’s just you and me then,” Moon said, turning to Lillie. Immediately, the blonde girl’s cheeks began to glow a rosy pink, bright against her pale skin.

“I-I suppose so…” She said softly, staring at her feet for a moment, before suddenly looking back up at Moon, “L-let’s go then!”

The two girls were out the door quickly.

“They sure seem like really good friends already!” Hau said with a bright grin. You looked over at Kukui and cocked an eyebrow at him. He grinned back at you, completely catching your drift, but not about to discuss the matter in front of Hau.

“Hey Hau,” Kukui said to him instead, “why don’t you take the pokémon out for a run on the beach for me? I gotta hook up our friend here with some crutches.”

“Okay!” Hau agreed eagerly, “Come on, Rockruff, Snubbull, Stufful!”

In a flash, Hau was out the door, the three pokémon at his heels. Once he was gone, Kukui was making his way over to you, and helping you up off the couch.

“You think you’ll be able to make it down the stairs?” he asked as he helped you across the room.

“Probably,” you said with a shrug, “my foot already feels a lot better than it did yesterday.”

“Well, once Burnet gets back with that medicine, we’ll re-wrap it and it’ll feel even better by tomorrow!” He said with a grin, “But, in the meantime, since you can’t take ride pokémon inside buildings…”

With some difficulty, Kukui helped you down the stairs into his basement lab. He helped you over to a couch against the wall, and you took a moment to let your eyes adjust to the dim, blue light. Once they had, you leaned back and looked around the lab. It was a comforting how familiar the setting was to you. Everything in Alola so far had been so different from your home in so many different ways, both good and bad. But here, in the lab of the pokémon professor, things were largely the same.

A Poliwhirl was in one corner of the lab, lifting weights. Across from you was a container holding several pokéballs, much like the ones in Professors Oak and Elm’s labs. These didn’t contain starter pokémon for new trainers, you supposed, but the machine holding them was still the same. Next to that was Kukui’s desk, his computer left on and papers, notes, and books scattered over the surface. Bookshelves lined the adjacent wall, full of binders, more books, and boxes. To your right was a large tank with two Luvdisc swimming inside, and between the tank and the bookshelves, Kukui was digging through some more boxes.

“Ah ha!” He exclaimed when he finally found what he was looking for. He brought the pair of crutches over to you, and helped you stand up and find your balance on them.

“I probably should’ve given you these yesterday,” he said, scratching at his scalp under his cap, “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, I was able to manage well enough. But thank you, these will make it a lot easier to get around on my own,” You paused, then added, “Thanks for everything, really.”

“Hey, no problem!” Kukui reassured you, slapping you on your shoulder blade and almost knocking you over, “it’s like I said about Lillie, when you see someone in need, you help them!”

You smiled at him, and he grinned back. You took a few minutes to walk around the lab on the crutches, trying to get used to them. At one point, Kukui stopped you to adjust the height a little, and once he was done they felt far more comfortable. You took the opportunity to explore the lab, immediately going up to the tank to look at the Luvdisc more closely first.

Just then, you heard Kukui’s front door open, then close above you. A series of footsteps crossed the floor above your head and then continued down the stairs. Finally, Burnet appeared at the foot of the staircase, a paper bag in her arms and a smile on her face.

“Hau said you’d be down here,” She said to her husband, before walking over to you, “You wanna sit down for a moment? I got some healing powder that should help your ankle.”

You obeyed her and sat yourself on the couch. As Burnet began unwrapping your old bandage, Kukui announced that he was going to check on Lillie and Moon, and left the two of you alone. Once he was gone, Burnet wasted no time in grilling you about the previous evening. She’d put two and two together easily enough based on the limited contact she’d seen between you and Guzma the day before, and was as intensely curious about what had taken you so long to come back from the festival last night as her husband had been about your pokémon’s attacks earlier.

“I’m telling you, nothing happened!” You insisted, trying your best not to get into any details.

“Nope,” Burnet disagreed, taking the powder out of the bag and sprinkling it over a freshly laid-out bandage, “No, I do _not_ believe that. I saw him looking at you like he wanted to eat you up right there in the middle of Iki Town, and if there’s anything I know about him, it’s that he’s definitely not the kinda guy to sit on his heels when he wants something, y’know?”

“Oh my god, it was not like that,” you tried to explain, running your hands down your face as Burnet began to rub some of the powder right into your swollen ankle. Immediately, you felt the dull, throbbing burn subside, and you briefly wondered what the powder was.

“Sweetheart,” Burnet said, her tone flat despite the affectionate term, “his hands were basically all over you, and the way he was looking at you? He wanted you, trust me. I know what a man in lust looks like.”

You groaned and sank further into the couch. She took the opportunity to lift your leg a little more as she began to wrap your foot in the fresh bandage. As embarrassing as her claim was, you couldn’t deny that the very idea made your heart pound.

“Well, if you’re trying to compare it to any sort of way your husband looks at you, that doesn’t exactly work,” you pointed out in an attempt to steer the conversation away from the subject, “I mean, you two are married, after all, and anyway Kukui’s so…” you trailed off, trying to think of an appropriate word to describe the professor.

“Genuine? Wonderful? Masculine? Handsome?” Burnet supplied for you, pausing in her wrapping to stare off into the distance with stars in her eyes. She looked almost identical to when she had been talking about The Masked Royal yesterday.

“…I mean I was going to go with ‘wholesome’ or something, but sure?” you said, shrugging. Still, you couldn’t help but smile at how blatant her love for her husband was. In the back of your mind, you wondered what words Guzma used to describe you to his grunts, if he did at all. You shook your head, trying to clear the thought.

“He’s that too,” Burnet went on, clearly starting on a tangent about her husband that you were far more comfortable following than your previous conversation, “And it’s honestly so amazing how he’s handled taking care of Lillie, I just know that whenever we do decide to have kids, he’ll be the best father anyone could ask for!”

“So you are planning on that?” You asked her, eager to change the topic, “Kukui just about freaked out when I asked him if Lillie was your kid.”

“Of course he would have,” Burnet laughed, pressing down on the wrapping so it would stick to itself, “I don’t think he’s really ready for that sort of commitment yet. Marriage is one thing, but when you have a kid… It’s not like you can get out of something like that. You have to _really_ be ready for it.”

Her voice softened with each word, to the point where she was barely audible as she spoke the last sentence. There was clearly much more to the story about the matter than what she was saying. Suddenly, you felt more comfortable talking about Guzma than continuing down this tangent after all.

“So…” you paused, wondering if you really should continue, but when Burnet looked up at you, you had little choice but to go on, “Guzma and I… we kinda did kiss last night.”

You swallowed thickly as you felt your cheeks begin to heat up. Burnet moved your leg so that she could sit next to you on the couch, and inclined her head as she looked at you. She didn’t say anything, but you took a deep breath as you continued.

“I… I told him I wanted to see him again. And I know I have other things to focus on while I’m here, and I know he’s basically Alola’s Giovanni,” you hesitated once those words tumbled out of your mouth. Suddenly, you couldn’t say anything else as you screwed your eyes shut tightly, wishing that you hadn’t changed the subject after all.

“Hey,” Burnet said softly, looking at you with a gentle smile, “It’s okay. It’s just a little fling. It happens when you find yourself in a new place, surrounded by new people, especially when you know that you’re only going to be around for a short amount of time.”

You looked up to meet her eyes, and she gently put a hand on your shoulder, rubbing it a little. You sighed and leaned into her touch. You didn’t like the idea of your… whatever it was you had going on with Guzma being described so casually, but maybe she was right. You weren’t going to be in Alola forever, after all.

“And anyway, you know that Team Skull isn’t exactly comparable to Team Rocket, even if they are a bunch of delinquents,” Burnet continued, looking across the room at the Poliwhirl, taking a rest on the nearby bench now, “So you can hardly call Guzma ‘Alola’s Giovanni’.”

You smiled as you replied, “Hell, Rocket wasn’t even made up of delinquents. Most of the people I battled as a kid were the age I am now. Every single Skull grunt I’ve met so far can’t be any older than a teenager.”

“I haven’t met one who isn’t,” Burnet admitted with a nod. You suddenly wondered how old Guzma was. He was definitely older than the grunts, but he didn’t look much older than you, if at all. Certainly not Giovanni’s age. There was a beat of silence between you and Burnet before you leaned back, stretching your arms above your head.

“I guess I get your point,” You finally said, shrugging as you continued, “and I mean, Hala kind of said as much at the festival yesterday too. He even told me that he let Skull have that booth because he wanted to give them an opportunity to do some legitimate business. Team Rocket would never go for something like that. They only made their own opportunities.”

You sighed, remembering the shop in Mahogany town. Could Team Skull even pull off something like that if they had to? You thought about the loud, boisterous grunts, so eager to battle at the drop of a hat, their bright hair and flashy accessories practically screaming out their affiliation to anyone who so much as glanced at them. Sure, you’d never thought the giant, red “R” on the Team Rocket uniform was exactly subtle, but at least it wasn’t polished to a shine. They’d known how to hide in plain sight, something that not even Team Skull’s leader seemed to know how to do.

Maybe you were taking all of this too seriously. Team Skull and Team Rocket were in different leagues, and you needed to stop comparing them. Hadn’t you even admitted to Guzma himself last night that you trusted him? Hell, you still had a hard time trusting Silver, and he was only Giovanni’s son.

Still, despite doing your best to reassure yourself, a little voice kept popping up in the back of your mind, warning you not to let your guard down again.

_Remember what happened the first time,_ it told you, _and remember how you found out you were wrong?_

The memory of the tailless slowpoke in Azalea town came to you again, and you frowned.

“I guess I just… hope I haven’t already made some huge mistake,” you admitted, looking down at your lap. Burnet, who’d been politely quiet while you thought things over, reached out to rub your shoulder again.

“Well, if all you guys did was make out a little,” she said, “then I’m sure things will be fine. As long as you just do your best to avoid him from now on, everything should be all right.”

You sighed. You knew she was just trying to make you feel better, but you couldn’t bring yourself to believe her. You’d asked to see him again, and he’d agreed, and despite your better judgement and the cautious little voice in the back of your mind, you were absolutely planning on following through.

“Yeah,” you agreed with Burnet, “if I do, it should.”

You already knew that it wasn’t going to be, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to warn you guys, the next update will be a little while. Thank you in advance for your patience! ><;;


	7. Chapter 7

After your conversation with Burnet, you excused yourself to the bathroom for a quick clean-up and to change into some clean clothes. At some point, Kukui texted you, telling you that Moon had passed her lessons at the pokémon school, and was going to head for Verdant Cavern this evening. With any luck, he insisted, she and Hau would be ready to face the Kahuna by tomorrow. You called a ride Tauros, planning to meet her and Ilima at the cavern to watch her trial, and hopefully catch a Rattata as well while there.

When you passed by Moon’s house, you saw her mom exiting the garage, carrying a box in her arms. You stopped the Tauros and waved to her, but she could only smile back at you.

“Alola!” you called out as you rode up to her, “how are you?”

“Oh, you know…” she trailed off instead of properly answering you, and you paused, waiting for her to continue. When she didn’t, you supplied an answer for her.

“You’re still nervous for Moon, huh?” you asked gently, and she stared at you, her eyes wide with surprise.

“…Well, yes,” she said, after a moment’s hesitation, “She… Well, she apparently just passed her course at the Pokémon School nearby, and she’s already off to meet the first trial captain.”

“So I heard. I’m off to meet the two of them now myself,” you said with a nod, and when the woman inclined her head in confusion, you clarified, “I… Kinda agreed to go around with the kids on their island challenge, to help complete my own job for professor Oak.”

The woman almost dropped the box she was holding. She gaped at you for a moment, before her face finally relaxed into the most relieved-looking grin you’d ever seen.

“Oh, you don’t know how happy it makes me to hear that!” she exclaimed, readjusting the box in her arms, “I’ve been so afraid for her, going off to explore an unfamiliar region all on her own. But now that I know that one of professor Oak’s very own assistants is going to be around, I can certainly sleep easier at night.”

You smiled at her, feeling rather humbled by the tone of glowing pride in her voice. You’d never really thought that anything could have compared to the title of “Indigo League Champion,” but her bright confidence in you for just being a professor’s assistant was starting to make you reconsider that.

“I’m sure everything will be just fine,” you reassured her warmly, “Alola seems like an even safer region for a journey than Kanto, after all. Even the people are more helpful here.”

“That’s true,” the woman said with a smile, though you could see a crease returning between her brows, “I guess... I’m just being a bit of a worried mother.”

“That’s natural,” you agreed, smiling, “Your child is out on her own for the very first time. I think every parent gets worried about that.”

“I suppose you’re right,” the woman conceded, taking a couple of steps toward her front door, “and anyway, I’m sure Moon is more than ready for it, if even the professor thinks so.”

She still seemed uneasy as she began to walk away from you.

“I’ll make sure I look out for her, okay?” you found yourself saying. The woman stopped in her tracks before turning around to look at you. Now her smile was genuine again, relieved once more.

“Thank you.” Was all she said before heading back toward her house. You turned your Tauros to continue on your own way.

“No problem!” you called over your shoulder, “You help people who need it, right?” You added, leading your Tauros down the road as you echoed Kukui’s words from that morning. You’d only gone a few steps before the woman called out again behind you.

“Call your own mom sometime, okay? I’m sure she worries about you too!”

You turned to give the woman one last wave, then charged down the road toward the nearest pokémon center.

You’d texted your mother exactly once since you’d arrived in Alola, right after you’d set foot on solid ground again after the journey to the islands. Her only response had been asking you if you needed money. It seemed to be the only reason she ever thought that you would contact her, even after you’d become champion and begun making enough money to live off of on your own. At first, it had made you sad, not just because of the emotional wedge it had driven into your relationship, but also because you’d always known that the two of you weren’t exactly the wealthiest family in New Bark Town. You’d always felt guilty accepting money from her, even when you’d needed it, and she always would make a big deal about how you’d make it up to her eventually, somehow. You weren’t sure if you ever had. She’d never really told you.

You brought your ride to a stop in front of the pokémon center, and climbed down from the Tauros. You balanced yourself on your borrowed crutches as you dug into your bag and pulled out your new sunglasses, putting them on defiantly. You kept them on as you hobbled into the pokémon center to change your party, leaving Meganium, Suicune, and Ho-Oh untouched in your bag as usual. You also decided to keep Jigglypuff after a few moments of debating. Singing pokémon to sleep was probably one of the most reliable catching techniques you’d found, so you figured it’d be in your best interest to keep Jigglypuff around for now. You also kept Grimer, knowing you’d have to get it to evolve to Muk eventually. This left you one last open space for the Rattata that you planned to capture at Verdant Cavern.

Satisfied, you made your way out of the pokémon center, and once outside, you almost collided with the two young men walking up to the building at that very moment.

“Yo!” one of them shouted at you as you regained your balance, “Watch where yer goin’, bitch!”

“Excuse me?!” You exclaimed back, curling your lip up in a snarl as you turned back to face the blue-haired teenager. Very quickly, you realized that he was the same Team Skull grunt that had tried to challenge you to a battle at the festival the day before. The one next to him was younger, and was staring at you like he recognized you as well.

“Wait a second, ain’t you…?” The older grunt asked you suddenly, stepping forward to look you up and down, “Yeah, ya are! That chick who tried to fuck with our business at the festival yesterday! Well tell ya what bitch, the boss ain’t here to step in no more, so if ya still wanna go, I’ll definitely kick yer ass now!”

You were trying to think of where to even start with your response, when suddenly the younger grunt tackled you in a full-body hug. At first, you panicked, pushing back against him, thinking that he was trying to physically attack you. But when your crutches fell to the ground, and he continued holding you upright (an impressive feat, given that you had several inches of height on him), you suddenly realized who he was.

“Hey sis!” he exclaimed, “You remember me? You gave me breakfast yesterday!”

“Of course, young sir!” you told him with a laugh, hugging him back, though mostly to regain your balance than anything else, “How’s your zubat doing?”

“Eh, not so great right now. My bro and I kinda lost a battle with a coupla other trainers just now and- ow! The hell, bro?!” He was interrupted by the older grunt punching him in the shoulder.

“Don’t go runnin’ yer mouth!” he warned, then turned to eye you suspiciously. You moved to lean against the wall of the pokémon center, and put your hands up.

“Hey, it’s cool,” you told him, “Guzma set me straight about yesterday. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions like I did.”

You decided not to mention Hala’s reassurance, figuring the grunt would take you more seriously if you attributed your apology solely to his boss. It seemed to work, as you noticed him settle a little bit. Next to him, the younger grunt was picking your crutches up off of the ground and bringing them over.

“Yeah, you better be…” the older grunt grumbled as his partner handed you the crutches. You thanked him, and even through his scarf, you could tell that he was beaming back at you.

“Hey, you need a couple bucks?” you asked the kid suddenly, putting a hand on his shoulder to make it as clear as possible to the other grunt that the younger boy was the only one you were offering this to, “I don’t want you to have to skip out on dinner tonight.”

Both of the grunts gaped at you in response. You noticed the older one about to say something when the younger one answered you first.

“No, we’re good. We all got bonuses yesterday for makin’ such good profits at the festival! OUCH!” the older grunt had punched him in the shoulder again, visibly harder this time.

“I told ya to quit runnin’ yer mouth!” he spat, then turned to you with his arms crossed, “Look lady, just because the boss is sweet on ya doesn’t mean you get to start actin’ all buddy-buddy with us, okay? Team Skull don’t need handouts from the likes of you, and we got business to do, so stay outta our way, ya got it?”

You raised an eyebrow at the teenager, otherwise keeping your expression as flat as you could manage. You’d felt something in your chest jump when he’d said Guzma was “sweet on” you, but you didn’t want him to know that. Still, you could feel your cheeks start to burn, and you prayed that the two grunts wouldn’t be observant enough to notice you blushing.

“Bro, c’mon,” the younger one said suddenly, turning to his partner, “she helped me out when I really needed it, yo. I wanna at least do somethin’ to thank her proper-like, y’know?”

The older grunt rolled his eyes.

“Do whatever ya want,” he scoffed, making his way to the doors of the pokémon center. The younger one turned to you now, grinning widely.

“Actually, I could use some directions, if you don’t mind,” you said, and you noticed the older grunt stop in the doorway.

“Where to?” the younger one asked eagerly, excited at the prospect of helping you out.

“Verdant Cavern,” you answered, “I’ve gotta meet a couple of people there.”

“Well if that’s where yer headin’,” the older grunt had sauntered back over to you, hands in his pockets. You looked back at him, raising your eyebrows again in suspicion as he continued on, “I think the quickest way from here would be to go up Route 1, then ‘round Route 3. You can find Verdant Cavern from there.”

You looked at him incredulously, then to the younger grunt, who looked just as confused as you were. He glanced from his partner to the road leading up to Route 1, then shrugged.

“I mean, I ain’t from this island, so I dunno, but-” he was interrupted by a shove from the other grunt.

“Well, I was born ‘n’ raised here in Hau’Oli, so you can trust me on this,” He assured you, though his tone was still hostile, “Otherwise ya gotta go all the way around the other side of the island, and that’ll take ya hours.”

You gave him a searching look, but his expression was steeled. You got the sneaking suspicion that he probably wasn’t telling you the whole truth, but given what little else you had to go on, you nodded your head.

“All right,” you said, getting out your pokédex and calling for a Tauros, “Thanks.”

The older grunt didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he lazily lifted his arm up in a half-hearted wave before disappearing into the pokémon center. You turned to face the younger one again and smiled at him.

“It was nice running into you again, young sir.” You said to him, tucking your dex back into your bag. The wide grin he gave you in response was apparent even under his scarf.

“It’s nice runnin’ into you too!” he exclaimed, “You’re probably one of the nicest tourists I ever met! Ain’t nobody’s ever called me nothin’ like ‘young sir’ before.”

As you laughed, your ride Tauros arrived. You let the grunt help you onto the pokémon, mostly just using him for balance as you climbed onto the beast yourself. You thanked him as he handed the crutches up to you, and you made sure they were secured before grabbing a hold of the handlebars set in front of you into the saddle.

“Well, you take care, okay young sir?” you said with a smile, and he beamed back up at you. You hesitated a moment, before continuing, “And, um, if you get the chance, tell your boss I said hey.”

You knew that the grunts would probably tell Guzma that they’d run into you again, so you figured you might as well acknowledge it. The grunt’s eyes widened for a moment at the request, and then he crossed his arms and nodded.

“You got it,” he said, a dark seriousness to his voice that you hadn’t heard from him before, “Anything else you want me to pass on?”

You stared down at him, almost a little bewildered at his sudden change in disposition. The sunny, eager kid that you’d met yesterday had suddenly been replaced by a disciplined little soldier, obediently awaiting further instruction. It was making you more than a little uncomfortable.

“Um…You can tell him that after tomorrow, I’ll be on Akala for the next few days. I’m… gonna be island-hopping, I guess.” You finally said after a moment of thought, keeping your voice low. You saw the young grunt nod again.

“That all?” he asked you, and you nodded back.

“For now, yeah,” you said, turning your Tauros down toward route 1, “I’ll see you around, young sir.”

His serious demeanor dropped as suddenly as it had appeared as he grinned at you again, waving as you headed away.

“See ya ‘round, ma!” he called out, and you suddenly froze. You turned back to look at him, but he’d already disappeared into the pokémon center.

Had you heard him correctly? “Ma,” as in “mom”? Hadn’t he just been calling you “sis” up until now? You shook your head and turned the Tauros back down the path of Route 1. Maybe it was just a thing for Team Skull to switch up their overly familiar nicknames like that. After all, Guzma had started calling you by a new pet name just about every time he opened his mouth once you’d told him to stop calling you “babe.” It was pretty cute, you had to admit to yourself, though you wondered when he’d eventually run out of new ones and have to start recycling some of them.

You hadn’t realized how widely you were grinning until you felt your jaw begin to ache. You brought the Tauros to a stop to bury your face in your hands, taking a few deep breaths to compose yourself before continuing onward.

You knew it was a bad idea to get so emotionally involved with Team Skull, but it was almost like you couldn’t help yourself. Sure, you thought Guzma was attractive, but there was something else about him that kept drawing you in.

You thought back to the few encounters that the two of you had had over the past couple of days. You’d definitely been angry at him over the Meowth at first, but maybe it was when he’d actually agreed to show you to the motel you’d had to stay at that night that you’d really begun to realize that he was possibly more than just some asshole. Then there was the way he’d treated his grunts, talking to them like they were more like actual family members of his than subordinates. And given their young ages, you couldn’t help but wonder if he didn’t feel a certain parental fondness for them. Maybe that was why he’d started up Team Skull in the first place? The thought of such a tough-fronting guy having such soft feelings was making you grin once more.

Ah, who the hell were you kidding? You had a crush on Guzma like you were a kid again. Literally too: the last time you could remember feeling this giddy over someone had been when you’d first started your journey and had met Blue for the first time. He’d had a similarly cocky attitude to Guzma, if you recalled, especially after he’d beat you in your first battle against him. You wondered if maybe you didn’t have a thing for that sort of over-confidence.

Of course, Blue had never returned your feelings, and had certainly never tried to pursue you. Not like Guzma was doing now. Maybe that was it?

You sighed to yourself as your Tauros continued climbing up the route. You could hear the ocean’s waves crashing on the cliffs to your right and wondered how much farther it would be.

You didn’t want to think that the only reason you were so fixated on Guzma was because he’d tried to put the moves on you. Sure, you’d never been in a serious romantic relationship before, but that had mostly been because you’d never had the time to pursue one after becoming Champion. Not that you hadn’t had the occasional bold challenger try to flatter a win out of you with flirtation, but you knew that was all it ever was, and that's why you always won those battles. And then before that… Well, you liked to tell yourself it was because you’d been too young, but the truth was that you’d just kept falling for people who had no interest in you other than rivalry. There had almost been something there with Silver, you liked to think. But from the start he’d been cold toward you at best, and in the end, nothing had ever come of your… whatever your relationship to him was. It had been for the better, you’d told yourself. He was Giovanni’s son, after all, even if he did hate Team Rocket even more than you.

But now here you were, mulling over your feelings for a Team Boss himself, someone you’d even called “Alola’s Giovanni,” even if it had been by accident. And if the way he’d kissed you the night before was any indication, he wasn’t exactly just trying to flatter you. Your heart began pounding at the memory of him insistently pressing his lips against yours when you’d told him you’d had to go, clearly not wanting to let you leave. As you continued on down the path, you wondered what would have happened if you hadn’t.

 

By the time the sun had set, you’d realized that the Team Skull grunt had given you bad directions after all. Not even your new pokédex with its fancy map was much help, given that it only showed the Cavern as a vaguely-labelled spot on the south side of Route 3. It was already twilight by the time you approached the approximate area, and you cursed yourself as you continued looking around, trying to catch any sign of Moon or Ilima, hoping you hadn’t missed them.

“Hey!” a high-pitched voice suddenly called from behind you, and you turned to see Moon bounding up to you, waving enthusiastically as Ilima casually followed behind her.

“Hey! Sorry I’m so late, I think I was given bad directions.” You apologized, climbing down from the Tauros. Your legs were starting to get sore from riding for so long.

“It’s fine,” Ilima assured you once he had approached. He put a hand on Moon’s shoulder as he continued, “Moon did spectacularly on her first trial, even despite the bumps along the way.”

“Ah, no! I missed your trial?” You asked Moon, your face falling, “Oh man… I really wanted to watch it.”

“It’s all right,” Moon said, reaching out to pat you gently on the arm, “It kinda got interrupted anyway. It was a little messy.”

You looked down at the girl quizzically before turning to Ilima.

“Ah, a couple of grunts from Team Skull tried to mess things up for us,” He admitted, not really looking very bothered, “Moon took care of things quite impressively though.”

Suddenly, it clicked. You looked between the two of them, Moon smiling modestly at Ilima’s praise, Ilima smiling back at her serenely.

“Were the grunts a couple of teenage boys?” You asked, “One kinda older and meaner than the other one?” Ilima laughed at your description.

“That’s just about every Team Skull duo on the islands,” He said, “but yes. Actually, I believe the older one was the very same person you were yelling at yesterday at the festival.”

“Y-you saw that?” You asked him, embarrassment suddenly washing over you. You wondered exactly how much of the incident he knew about. However, he just continued smiling softly as he shrugged.

“I was helping to set up a booth on the other side of the plaza at the time. I saw just about the entire thing. But don’t feel too bad though,” he reassured you, his voice suddenly darkening a little with that last sentence, “there were a lot of people who were grateful that you said something. Just because Hala was comfortable inviting them doesn’t mean that everyone else was.” He sighed softly, and despite his words, he looked almost disappointed. You wondered if he wasn’t actually more on Hala’s side of that particular issue.

“I was wrong though,” you admitted, and Moon and Ilima both gave you odd looks, “I kinda just jumped to conclusions when I saw them selling Slowpoke tail. But Gu- er, Hala told me that the business was legitimate and I believe him, so…” You trailed off, biting your tongue at almost dropping Guzma’s name so easily. Moon was still looking confused, but you could see Ilima giving you a bemused smile from behind her. You felt your face heating up in a blush, and you were suddenly thankful for the cover of the dark evening.

“Hey guys!” shouted a voice suddenly from up the Route a bit. The three of you turned to see a very distressed looking Kukui running toward you.

“Hey professor,” you greeted back as he approached, “Is something wrong?”

“Lillie…” he gasped out, “W-wandered off… Somewhere along… Route 3. I can’t… find her…” He had his hands on his knees as he panted. You briefly wondered how long he’d been running for, before exchanging glances with Moon and Ilima.

“I will check the Cavern, in case she’s around there,” Ilima said, turning back to head down the road.

“W-wait!” you called out, stopping him. He looked back at you with a smile, already guessing your concern.

“There are plenty of Rattata along Route 3 at this time. I’m sure you’ll come across one out there,” he reassured you, before continuing down the hill to the Cavern’s entrance. You sighed, but turned back to Kukui and Moon, who were talking about pokémon attacks. Kukui was making a strange pose that Moon was copying, and you couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter.

“Don’t we have a lost little girl to look for?” you asked, regaining their attention. Kukui scratched under his cap, looking a little bashful.

“Yeah, you’re right. You two oughta look for her together, and I’ll try to retrace my steps. I lost track of her somewhere around Melemele meadow,” Kukui said, “If you find her, bring her back to the lab, okay? It’s getting dark…”

He sounded worried, his tone almost identical to Moon’s mother’s from earlier that day. You did your best to muster up a reassuring smile for him.

“Don’t worry about it, professor, we’ll find her.” Moon suddenly spoke up with bold determination in her voice. You looked down at her, surprised to see that her face had hardened into a very serious expression. You noticed that it was the same one she’d worn during her battle with Hau the evening before. With a smile, you took out your dex and called for another Tauros.

“Thanks. I know I can count on you, cousin!” Kukui said with a bit of a nervous laugh.

Moon was a little shocked when the ride Tauros came charging up the hill, but she waited patiently while Kukui helped you up onto it. You asked Moon if she wanted to ride with you, but she seemed hesitant, insisting that she was okay with walking. So the two of you parted ways with Kukui, heading back around Route 3 in the direction that you had come from.

You both called out Lillie’s name as you searched for her, while you also tried your best to keep an eye out for any Rattata. However, as twilight faded and the nearly-full moon began to rise in the East, both continued to elude you. Eventually, you and Moon came to the bridge leading down to Route 1. To your right were some cliff sides, hiding Melemele meadow from the rest of the route if the nearby sign was any indication. On your left was a patch of grass along with some additional cliffs that dropped down to a narrow beach below. You and Moon decided to split up, her heading into the meadow while you wandered off into the tall grass.

You took the opportunity to scout for a Rattata, and quickly encountered one. Your Jigglypuff was a little grumpy to be roused after dark, but once she’d sung the little creature to sleep, you called her back and tossed out your Grimer, ordering it to give the Rattata a nasty bite before you threw a pokéball. The first one didn’t take, but the second one did, and soon you were tucking the pokémon into your bag with the others. You were just sending a text to Samson, informing him of your catch, when Moon suddenly came running up to you.

“I found Lillie!” she burst out before you could say anything, and directed your Tauros to follow her as she ran back into the meadow.

The first thing you noticed about the meadow was how beautiful it was. Yellow flowers stretched out for yards in every direction, pokémon darting in and out through them. Lillie was standing just on the edge of the field, focusing on the other side of it. There, you saw Nebby, floating around happily, its beautiful, gaseous body shining softly in the dark of the night. Lillie turned to you when she heard you approach.

“Oh, thank goodness,” She said, sounding relieved, “Nebby got out of my bag and-”

“I’m gonna go get Nebby, don’t worry Lillie,” Moon suddenly assured her, putting her hands on Lillie’s shoulders. You noticed Lillie’s eyes widen as her cheeks began to turn pink again.

“P-please!” she exclaimed, screwing her eyes shut. Immediately, Moon took off into the flowers, disturbing the pokémon that were sleeping amongst them. A cloud of small, bee-like creatures flew up, buzzing over to where you and Lillie were in an attempt to relocate. Alarmed, Lillie squealed as she ducked, covering her head with her arms. Thinking quickly, you tossed out Jigglypuff again.

“Sing!” You commanded, pointing up at the cloud of small pokémon. Lillie looked up at your sudden cry, just in time to see the pokémon dropping from the air, one by one, into a deep sleep as Jigglypuff’s melody began to take effect. When things had settled somewhat, you called Jigglypuff back before lobbing a spare net ball at one of the pokémon, catching it easily. You checked your pokédex, finding out that it was called “Cutiefly” and was both fairy and bug types. Satisfied, you put everything away again and turned to Lillie.

“Are you all right?” you asked her as she got back to her feet. She nodded shyly.

“Y-yes… Thank you…” She looked around her at the sleeping pokémon on the ground, and very carefully stepped around them as she made her way over to you, “And… Thank you for… you know, not harming any of them.” She added quietly, nodding at all the Cutiefly. You smiled down at her.

“Well, you can’t catch a pokémon that’s fainted, so I try to avoid that when dealing with wild ones,” you told her. She smiled back up at you, and you turned to see where Moon was. She was about halfway through the field, currently engaged in a battle with a yellow bird pokémon. She tried throwing a pokéball at it, but it quickly popped out.

“You know, you really worried Kukui when you ran off,” You said after a moment as Moon lobbed another pokéball. You weren’t trying to scold Lillie, so much as let her know that she shouldn’t have run off without a word like she had. But when she looked back up at you, her eyes were positively fearful. You had to stop yourself from climbing down from the Tauros to hug her, knowing it would run off on you if you did.

“I-I’m sorry…” She muttered, and you could hear from the warble in her voice that she was near tears. Panicking a little, you said the first comforting thing that blurted from your mouth.

“It’s okay! You didn’t mean to!” you exclaimed, not really knowing if she had actually meant to or not. It just was the kind of thing you’d said to defend your own actions so many times at her age that it was practically an automatic response. She was looking up at you again, but her fearful expression had been replaced with a look of confusion at your sudden change in attitude. You cleared your throat before continuing, “I mean… I know you wanted to make sure Nebby wouldn’t get away, but…”

You turned your attention back to the field. Moon had just reached Nebby when it began darting in and out of the flowers, making her chase after it. It looked like it was playing with her, and having the time of its life doing so. Moon, however, was not playing. Her face was as serious as ever as she tried to concentrate on grabbing the little pokémon, but every time she lunged for it, Nebby would float just out of her reach, making its high pitched cry each time like it was laughing in amusement.

“Lillie, you have to understand. I know you care about Nebby, and you seem very concerned about keeping an eye on it, but,” You began, turning to look back down at her, “to the professors, and to your friends, and… well, to me too, _your_ well-being is way more important.” Lillie was looking back up at you now, her face twisted in even more confusion. She clearly didn’t believe you. You took a deep breath before continuing.

“I may have only been here for a couple of days,” you started, “but something I found out very quickly about this region is that the people here… Well, they all really care about each other. Professor Kukui’s a great example, I mean, he just let me crash on his couch the day he met me, and even made breakfast for me this morning. And, heck, even when I first arrived in this region, a complete stranger didn’t just give me directions, but also personally escorted me to where I needed to go when I asked for his help,” You tried not to smile too widely as you thought of Guzma while you continued on, “It’s just… everyone here treats everyone else like family, whether they are or not.”

Lillie tightened her grip on her bag as you concluded, and looked over to Moon, who had finally managed to grab Nebby. She was trying to make her way back across the meadow, but another of those yellow birds stopped her.

“Not all families treat each other nicely though…” Lillie said, so softly you almost hadn’t heard her. You could feel your heart breaking as you looked down at her, staring unfocused across the meadow.

“…You are right about that,” You said after a moment of silence, thinking of your own mother for a brief moment. Lillie looked back up at you, her face sagging with fatigue. You weren’t sure whether it was because it was getting late or if it was the topic of conversation, but you paused again, then continued, “I think that’s why everyone here works so hard to take care of each other though. Family is more than just the people you’re related to, it’s… the people you surround yourself with, who love you and take care of you.”

You nodded, satisfied with your conclusion. When you looked back to Lillie, she was smiling. Weakly, yes, but seemingly satisfied as well.

“I think I understand,” she affirmed, and you grinned at her as she turned to look at Moon, now in the middle of a battle with another trainer. She watched her for a moment before saying softly, “I guess I just… don’t really know how to go about doing that…”

“Well,” you started, following her gaze with a sly smile, “You should probably start with someone that you’ve met who you love or care about, and start building a relationship with them from there.”

“Does that mean that you’ve met someone like that here, then?” Lillie asked you suddenly, turning back to you now. Her big, green eyes were looking curiously up at you, waiting for some kind of answer. Immediately, you thought of Guzma, and felt your face begin to heat up again. You quickly turned back to look at Moon, whose Rattata had just finished using a strange, powered-up version of tackle, taking out its opponent.

You didn’t want to tell Lillie no, afraid that it would ruin the impact of your previous statement. But at the same time, you knew that saying “yes” would be jumping the Sharpedo more than a little bit.

“I… Sort of? Maybe.” You said, settling for the most neutral affirmation you could make. Lillie continued staring up at you as you nervously tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear. Ahead of you in the meadow, Moon was accepting some cash from the defeated trainer.

“Is it the person you were out with so late last night?” Lillie asked you quietly, and you almost fell off of your ride Tauros in shock. This girl was far sharper than she seemed to be.

“…Y-yeah,” you admitted after a moment of hesitation, “I-I mean, I have no idea where things are gonna go, obviously, since we’ve really only just met, but then again we did kinda already kiss so-” You immediately clapped your hands over your mouth. You didn’t know if it was because it was getting so late or if Lillie’s conversation shift had just caught you off-guard, but you immediately chastised yourself for saying so much so casually.

“Professor Burnet and Professor Kukui… they kiss each other a lot,” Lillie said, turning back to face the meadow as Moon continued making her way back toward the two of you.

“Yeah, but they’re adults,” you started, causing her to look back up at you, “you don’t have to worry about that part of it yet. Just focus on finding people who make you happy right now.”

Lillie nodded at you and you smiled, feeling rather relieved at having ended the conversation so neatly. You did not want to be responsible for Lillie getting the idea of pushing herself too far with anyone too soon. The very thought made you extremely uncomfortable.

When Moon finally reached the two of you again, she wrapped an arm around Lillie from behind, her other one holding on tightly to Nebby. She looked absolutely exhausted, but she explained that she kept coming up against Oricorio that wouldn’t let her by. As Lillie explained to her how Oricorio could undergo form changes by feeding on nectar of different flowers, you couldn’t help but smile fondly at the two of them.

You were starting to realize that you wanted to do all that you could to help and protect them throughout this upcoming challenge. Hell, you felt the same way for Hau too. They were just kids, after all, on the cusp of a journey similar enough to one you’d gone through yourself twice now, and you wanted to give them all that you could offer to help them along.

Was this how Guzma felt about his grunts, you wondered? You let yourself smile at the thought, too tired to mentally fight it anymore.

“Come on you guys,” you said to the girls, regaining their attention, “Let’s get you back home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It will still be a bit before I can post the next chapter (I still need to proof-read it etc.) but again, thank you for your patience!!! I hope you enjoyed this one, at least! ^^


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaahhhh you guys are all so great!  
> I'm so happy so many people like this fic so much! I only wanted to write something for pure self-indulgence, and this wasn't even something I was gonna publish until a friend convinced me to, but now it's got over 1000 hits and 100 kudos!  
> So, to celebrate, I'm giving you this next chapter a little early. I wanted to make a little more headway first before posting it, but you guys are so great that this is the least I can do to thank you all!  
> And ESPECIALLY thank you so much for all of your support and love and kind comments! I've been having some bs going on recently that would have killed my interest in continuing this long ago if it wasn't for all of your encouragement! So please enjoy this chapter!  
> (p.s. I promise Guzma will be back soon. Probably one more chapter before he shows up again.)

After escorting Moon to her house, you and Lillie had made your way to the professors’. Burnet and Kukui insisted that you sleep on the couch again, both because it was late, and because you would all be leaving for Akala Island the very next evening anyway. According to Kukui, Hau had passed Ilima’s trial while you and Moon had been looking for Lillie, and he and Moon would be taking on their first Grand Trial against Hala in the morning. Afterwards, you would be heading to Akala Island, where Burnet worked. She was needed back at her lab, and Kukui, too smitten to stay away from her, was offering to take everyone to the next island on the boat he had docked in the city.

So the next day, you were roused bright and early by Kukui making breakfast once again. With all four of you eating together, chatting excitedly about the day, the house seemed bustling compared to the morning before. Your ankle was feeling well enough that you were able to move to sit at the kitchen counter with the others, happily talking with them as you dug into your breakfast. At one point, you made sure to exchange numbers with Lillie and Burnet. While you mostly just wanted to have Burnet as a contact, you were actually rather concerned for Lillie after the previous evening, and you made her promise you that she would contact you if anything like that happened again.

The sun was still somewhat low in the sky when you all left to make your way to Iki town. You decided to ride a Tauros there, then see how you felt about walking again afterwards.

When the four of you stopped by Moon’s house to pick her up, she still looked half-asleep. She perked up somewhat when she saw Lillie, however, rushing forward to give her a tight hug. You watched her mother giggle behind her hand at the scene, and smiled. At least she seemed to approve.

You lead the way to Iki Town on the back of Tauros. It sort of worked for you, because whenever you looked back at the rest of your group, if Kukui and Burnet weren’t all over each other, Moon and Lillie were (albeit in a far more chaste way than the adults). And every time you saw the couples with each other, you couldn’t stop yourself from thinking about Guzma.

You knew that you couldn’t deny your feelings to yourself anymore, but that didn’t mean that you couldn’t keep trying to hide them from everyone else. The amount that others seemed to know already bothered you as it was, but you figured that if you could manage to suppress your feelings well enough, people would eventually move on. With any luck, it would ultimately help you move on when the time finally came for you to head back home too. ~~~~

But on the other hand, just about everything was reminding you of him now, to the point where it was starting to get almost painful. You felt ridiculous, getting so smitten this quickly. You barely knew him, when you really thought about it. You didn’t even want to think about what your mother would say if she knew about the situation.

But every time you thought about your few encounters with Guzma, your heart would begin to pound again. The gentle touch of his fingers along your jawline, his strong grip on your body, the fiery softness of his lips as they had hungrily pressed against yours. You didn’t think you would ever be able to forget those feelings, and just remembering them made you have to fight off a shiver.

Regardless, you were realizing that you were now in a far more difficult situation than you had ever anticipated finding yourself in when you had accepted this job. It was almost enough to make you consider calling in and asking for someone else to take your place.

Almost.

When your group finally arrived in Iki town, you found Hau and Hala engaged in battle on the platform in the center of the town plaza, several townsfolk gathered around to watch. Hau’s Pikachu was up against Hala’s Mankey, and looked like it was losing.

“Ha! The kid’s doing better than I thought!” Kukui laughed as he stepped up next to you. You looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

“Really?” you asked, turning back to the plaza just in time to see Hau’s Pikachu barely withstand a Karate Chop from the Mankey, “It… doesn’t really look that way from this angle.”

“Well,” Kukui started, pointing a finger in the air matter-of-factly, “Hala almost always starts his battles with his Makuhita. So Hau’s got the Kahuna down a pokémon already, while he’s still got both of his own!” Kukui pointed to the Rowlet by Hau’s feet, which was watching the battle intently.

Finally, Hau’s Pikachu went down, and before he could say anything, the Rowlet had charged up to take the place of its fallen teammate.

“Peck!” Hau called out, a note of unexpected ruthlessness in his voice. His Rowlet obeyed, and the Mankey was taken down.

“Good job!” Hau congratulated his pokémon happily, which hooted back at him in a matching reply.

“Wahaha! Don’t celebrate too early, boy!” Hala said with a laugh, throwing out a new pokémon. You didn’t recognize this one, but your pokédex identified it as a “Crabrawler”. It certainly looked like it fit the name, seeing as the crab-like pokémon’s large claws were shaped like boxing gloves. Hau took a step back, looking almost intimidated by pokémon before him.

“You can do it Hau!” Moon suddenly hollered from next to you, and you jumped a little. Hau turned to see your group, and gave you all a big grin as he waved.

“Thanks guys!” he called, before turning back to face his grandfather and his pokémon, “All right Rowlet, start with Growl!”

The little bird obeyed, hooting out a low warning to its opponent, which scuttled around in its spot in response.

“Well, I suppose now is as good a time to do this as ever!” Hala exclaimed suddenly, holding his arm in front of him. You noticed that he was wearing a silver bracelet with a sparkling orange crystal embedded in it. He stepped forward, and began pummeling the air in front of him with his fists. His Crabrawler, meanwhile, began to glow with a building power, as if Hala’s movements were charging it up. Your suspicions were confirmed when the pokémon full-on tackled Hau’s Rowlet, pummeling the creature with its claws in an imitation of Hala.

Everyone in your group seemed to have wildly varying reactions to the move. Immediately obvious was Kukui, who'd begun jumping and whooping excitedly.

“Oh yeah! That’s the power of Z-moves, cousin!” he was shouting. Next to him, Lillie was wincing as she clutched at her bag, and Burnet was all-but ignoring the match as she reached out to rub Lillie’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Moon, meanwhile, was watching the match intensely, as if trying to take in all that she could, and you knew that she was trying to observe what she was up against.

When the dust settled, Rowlet was still standing. Its feathers certainly looked ruffled, but you figured the growl had done its job and weakened the powerful attack. The Crabrawler, for its part, looked somewhat tired for its effort, and Hala shouted an encouragement at it, which seemed to perk it up slightly.

“Leafage!” Hau called out, and the Rowlet kicked up a small whirlwind of leaves, shooting them at the other pokémon. The Crabrawler took the hit easily, and Hala called for it to use leer. Rowlet shivered a little in response, and Hau ordered it to peck back. The little pokémon dove in, hitting the Crabrawler with precision, leaving it reeling.

“Power-up punch!” Hala called out, and the Crabrawler took a swing at its opponent. Rowlet just managed to avoid the attack, before diving down and striking with another peck.

You were finding yourself to be rather impressed. Hau and his pokémon had noticeably improved since only a couple of days ago, and he even seemed to be taking this battle more seriously than the one he’d had with Moon. So, you were unsurprised when Rowlet’s move finally took down the Crabrawler.

Your group erupted into cheers at the victory, Kukui literally jumping up in excitement. You watched as Hala approached his grandson to congratulate him, and Moon quickly took off toward the stage, eager to take her turn.

It was just as she was climbing up onto the stage, ignoring the steps to haul herself up onto the platform in her eager haste while the others in your group laughed in amusement, that you heard a twinkling tune coming from your bag. Curious, you dug through it to find it was the ringtone of your new pokédex, and that professor Oak was calling you.

You carefully climbed down from the Tauros and made your way to the nearest bench, sitting down on it as you answered the call. Professor Oak’s smiling face appeared on the screen, and he waved at you.

“Hello there! Or should I say ‘Alola?’” Oak asked with a laugh, and you couldn’t stop from giggling a little yourself. The greeting sounded so strange coming from him after having heard all of the locals say it with so much more familiarity over the past several days.

“Hey there professor,” you said, noticing an assistant chasing a Mr. Mime around the lab behind him. At least things seemed to be going normal enough back at home.

“Just thought I’d check in, since it’s been a few days!” He said cheerfully. You nodded and reached into your bag, pulling out the balls containing your catches.

“Yeah, I caught two variants so far. A Grimer and a Rattata. It’s striking how different they look out here, and that’s not even going into the type differences,” You let the pokémon out of their balls to show to the professor, who you could see physically leaning toward his screen to get a better view as you continued, “The professor of the region here, Kukui, he even said that they learn moves differently, apparently!”

“Well, that’s hardly surprising, I suppose,” Oak laughed, “but fascinating all the same! Have you gotten to see any examples of that for yourself?”

“Oh, well, not really, not yet…” You admitted, glancing up at the stage ahead of you. Moon and Hala were taking their places on each end of it, facing each other with serious gazes.

“Well, I want you to make sure you train and evolve them too, don’t forget,” Oak reminded you. You nodded, glancing down at the two pokémon at your feet. The Rattata was sniffing curiously at the Grimer, which was starting to ooze around the smaller pokémon, checking it out.

“Yeah,” you said to professor Oak, “I know. And I will, don’t worry about that.”

Training would take a while, you knew that all too well. Rattatas weren’t that hard to evolve, if you recalled correctly, but Grimers were rather more difficult. At the very least, you figured, you could always use some of your spare rare candies to boost your pokemons’ levels. Not that they would entirely get you where you needed to be, but they could be helpful, at least.

“I’m going to be following a couple of local kids on their island challenge,” You added after a moment, “So I’ll definitely have the opportunity to get in some quality training. And I still have my old experience share, too.”

“That’s good, that’s good!” Professor Oak exclaimed, sounding reassured. You smiled to yourself, then looked up to the stage. Hala and Moon were beginning their battle.

“Well, listen professor, I gotta-” you started, but were cut off by Oak continuing on instead.

“Yes, you see, there are ten basic variants, but once the evolutions are counted for, there are actually quite a few that you’ll need to collect information on in the end! You’ll probably want to keep up this pattern of catching unevolved pokémon, so that you can evolve them later and we can get as much information as possible from each individual…” Oak was off on a ramble now, and you were doing your best to keep your focus on him instead of the match in front of you. One of the Oricorio Moon had caught last night was dealing a final blow to Hala’s Makuhita, which Hala was now calling back to replace with Mankey.

“Oh, and that reminds me!” Oak suddenly exclaimed, catching your attention again, “according to my research, Cubone and Pikachu both evolve into their Alolan variants as long as they are exposed to the local environment when they evolve! And I do have that newly hatched Cubone you transferred to my care before you left, not to mention that Pichu egg that’s still sitting in the incubator!”

You thought for a moment, recalling the pokémon he was talking about. The very first assignment that Professor Oak had given you when he’d first hired you as an assistant had been to help him on a joint breeding project he’d been conducting with Elm, and as a result, you’d ended up with a few excess eggs and baby pokémon. Your current Jigglypuff had been one of results of the project, in fact.

You looked down at your bag next to you on the bench, then back down to the Grimer and Ratatta, which were playing with each other now. You figured that you could probably move your team around enough to accommodate a Cubone and an egg.

You looked up at the battle, and noticed that Moon had replaced her Oricorio with Litten, and you furrowed your brow. You were missing the whole battle.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan, professor!” you agreed, turning back to your call, “I’ll be travelling to the next island later today, so I’ll transfer them to my party when I get there. Can you have them ready in my box by tomorrow at the latest?”

“Of course!” the professor agreed cheerfully.

“Great!” You said, about to say goodbye and hang up the call, when Professor Oak continued on again.

“So, you’re travelling to Akala already, eh?” He asked, and you had to inwardly hold back a groan. Litten had just clamped down onto Hala’s Mankey with an aggressive Fire Fang, burning the other pokémon and sending it reeling.

“I… Yeah, just as soon as the kids finish up their Grand Trial,” You said, trying your best to split your attention between the battle and your conversation.

“Well! Then I better call that motel chain and tell them to set up a room for you again!” Oak said with a laugh, “They have a location on Route 8 on that island, I believe.”

“Er, no offense professor,” you started, “but Samson mentioned something and it’s been making me think, um… is there any chance you could book me somewhere other than these motels? I mean, aren’t there some… y’know, nicer places? Maybe a little more centrally located?”

You'd shifted your focus entirely to the call now, hoping that Oak would concede to your point. When he shook his head, however, you felt your stomach drop.

“I’m sorry,” he began in a lecturing tone you knew all too well, “but I already have a timeshare with that chain, so you must understand that in order to keep within the allotted budget for this project-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” You sighed, looking back up at the match. Hala and Crabrawler were preparing their Z-move once again, and it took every ounce of self-control you had to turn your attention back to your call when the professor spoke again.

“I’m sorry,” Professor Oak repeated, but he sounded a little softer now, “Were the accommodations not-?”

“No, i-it’s nothing like that,” you interrupted, blushing as you realized that you were probably sounding rather like a spoiled child, “It just… it was kinda hard to find, I guess, not to mention the reservation was only good for one night at a time, so I’ve been having to stay with professor Kukui the past couple of days…”

As you trailed off, your eyes looked back up at the match. Litten had been replaced with Rattata, and you had to hold back a gasp. A dark type against a fighting type? Moon was definitely at a disadvantage from that alone, and it was frustrating you how you weren’t able to follow what was going on.

“Well, the reservation’s an easy enough fix!” Oak continued, regaining your attention, “I’ll just call them up and rearrange things a little. Are you still on track for three weeks, or do you think we’ll need to bump it up to four?”

“Three should be good,” you said hurriedly, trying to keep your eye on the match. Moon was making a pose now, and you could see her Rattata charging its power as she did so. You tried to stop yourself from looking too anxious as you turned back to your call.

“All right, well let me know if things change and you need more time,” he assured you. At his words, the memory of your promise to see Guzma again came to your mind.

“I… yeah, I will,” You reassured him, wondering why those words had caused your mind to drift in that particular direction so suddenly.

“Well, I should probably let you go,” Professor Oak finally said, and you could physically feel the tension leave your shoulders at his words, “I’ll be sure to have Cubone and the Pichu egg in your box by tomorrow. Make sure you check in with me once you’ve made it to the motel so we can be sure the reservation changes are set. Okay?”

“Okay professor. Talk to you later.” You smiled at him as he waved at the camera before ending the call. When you looked back up to the stage, a very weakened-looking Rattata was readying itself for an attack against the Crabrawler.

“Hyper Fang!” Moon called out, and her Rattata obeyed, taking the other pokémon down with the hit. Suddenly, the match was over, and you were left with the sinking realization that you had missed the entire thing.

You watched as your group began to cheer enthusiastically for Moon, and you waved at her when she turned to you with a big grin. At least she didn’t seem to realize that you hadn’t been able to give the trial your full attention.

“Great Job!” You called out to her, then sighed softly as she turned back to talk to Hala.

You stayed where you were, and looked down at your two pokémon on the ground. Rattata was several feet away, sniffing at a patch of grass curiously, while Grimer had oozed its way under the bench, out of the direct sunlight. You called them back into their pokéballs and then leaned back a little.

As much as Guzma kept pushing his way into your thoughts, you reminded yourself that your job was what you really needed to focus on while you were here. That was why you were in this region to begin with after all, not to fall head over heels for a near-stranger. You were starting to feel frustrated with yourself over it all.

“How’re you feeling?” A voice snapped you out of your thoughts and you looked up to see Burnet taking a seat next to you. She was looking pointedly at your foot, and you shrugged.

“I probably shouldn’t push myself too much today, but it feels fine right now,” you answered, then looked back to where the rest of the group was gathered, watching as Hala gave Moon a demonstration of how to use his Z-move, “I can’t believe I missed the whole battle though.”

“Who were talking to?” Burnet asked, a hint of a sly smirk creeping onto her face. You made a face of your own at her.

“My boss, actually,” You answered, watching with some satisfaction as her expression fell in barely contained disappointment, “I needed to check in with him. I’m going to be picking up a couple of pokémon from back home to try and evolve here once we get to Akala, I suppose.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Burnet said brightly, “There are certain pokémon that evolve into their Alolan variants when exposed to the environment no matter where they are from. Now what were they again…?”

“Cubone and Pikachu,” you supplied for her, “And as luck would have it, I have a couple of babies back home who could use some training.”

“Well, that will be convenient,” Burnet said with a nod, “Akala will be a good place to train those two as well. Olivia sells evolutionary stones in her shop in Konikoni City, and Kiawe specializes in Marowaks, so he might be able to help you out with yours.”

“Kiawe?” You asked, turning to give her a curious look.

“Oh, he’s one of the trial captains on Akala. He specializes in fire types, but he’s known for his Marowaks in particular,” She said, turning back to face the group. To your surprise, a ride Tauros had appeared while you and Burnet had been talking, and Moon was climbing up onto it, decked out in safety gear.

“Huh. I’ll have to be sure to meet up with him then,” you said, nodding, “Is your lab nearby his trial site?”

Burnet laughed at that and shook her head.

“Nah, Akala’s actually quite a bit bigger than Melemele, believe it or not. I work at the Dimensional Reasearch Lab in Heahea city, on the south side of the island. Kiawe’s trial site is at the volcano. Don’t worry though, you can’t exactly miss it.”

You looked down at your lap for a moment. You hadn’t exactly had the best of luck in finding your own way around Melemele so far, and if what Burnet was saying about Akala being bigger was true…

“Hey,” you said, suddenly getting an idea and digging into your bag for your pokédex, “you wouldn’t mind showing me where exactly on the map, would you?”

You spent the next several minutes watching and listening as Burnet give you a virtual tour of Akala via your pokédex, finding her explanations to be much easier to follow than either of the Oaks’ could ever be. You listened intently as she explained where the best spots to catch variants were on the island, and you took particular notice of Diglett’s Tunnel. You told her about the similar tunnel in Kanto, and before you knew it, the two of you were swept up in a conversation about the various environments in Alola and Kanto. At one point, the two of you even turned back to your pokédex map so she could begin to show you around the other islands.

“What’s that place?” you asked her, pointing to a town that looked like it was boxed in on the upper right corner of the map of the biggest island, just Southeast of Akala.

“Oh, that’s…” Burnet hesitated, and when you looked up at her, she seemed unsure about whether or not to continue. But when her eyes flickered down to meet yours, she sighed.

“All right, that’s Po town,” she explained, “But trust me, you don’t want to go there. The place is a dump, and it’s barricaded anyway.”

“What makes you think I want to go there?” You asked her, raising an eyebrow. You watched as she bit her lip, clearly struggling about whether or not to continue. She nervously cast a couple of quick glances at you, and when you just continued staring at her, she finally sighed.

“Because that’s Team Skull’s HQ,” She admitted, crossing her arms, “But, look, there’s really no reason you’d need to go there. There are no wild pokémon, and the whole place is so trashed, it’s apparently almost impossible to even get through.”

“‘Apparently’?” You asked, inclining your head.

“According to Nanu. I’ve never been there myself since Team Skull took it over, and I don’t exactly plan on it,” She said with a shrug.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m not planning on it either,” You told her, though you couldn’t hold back a small sigh as you spoke. You felt Burnet’s hand on your shoulder, and you looked over at her to see her smiling gently at you.

“I know it’s hard,” she said, her voice soft, “But you’re a smart girl. Whatever decision you make will be the right one, I’m sure.”

You sighed and looked back down at your hands.

“Yeah, but… that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be a good one,” You said softly. Burnet looked at you curiously, and opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the sound of her husband’s voice calling out to the two of you.

“Hey there!” He called out, grinning widely, Lillie standing behind him. Burnet gave you one last sympathetic smile before rising to greet Kukui with a sweet peck on the lips. He kissed her back, lingering just a bit before pulling away from her to turn to you, and you noticed his face was a little flushed.

“Well! Are you ready to help us get the boat in ship shape?” He asked you, beaming. You smiled back at him and nodded, then reached for your pokédex so you could call a Tauros to ride back into the city.

You, Kukui, Burnet, and Lillie all chatted together as you made your way down to the marina. At some point, Lillie had brought up that you’d never tried a malasada, and the professors forced you to split up with them so that you could stop and get some before you headed to the boat. You made sure to buy enough for everyone to share, and you all ate them happily as you worked on cleaning Kukui’s shabby little sailboat. You wound up spending most of your time tidying up the small cabin, so you wouldn’t have to move much. The cabin was pretty cramped, with a full bed, a pull-out couch, and a tiny kitchen area all crammed into the small space. You mostly spent your time making the beds and rinsing off the dishes, somewhat dusty from disuse. It wouldn’t take long to make the journey to Akala, but you all would be sleeping on the boat for the night once you docked.

After the sun went down, you, Lillie, and the professors went to the nearby mall to grab dinner, before heading back to the marina to meet Hau and Moon. It was nearing 10pm by the time you all were finally on your way.

The ride to Akala wasn’t very long, and you spent the whole time on the deck, feeling the balmy night air wash over your face as you gazed out over the water. Far off in the distance, you could see the lights of what must have been the city you were heading for. You sighed softly to yourself as you looked up at the stars spread across the sky. Out here on the water, away from the lights of the cities and towns, you could see more of them than you were ever used to. It was enough to take your breath away.

Before you knew it, you were remembering your last time with Guzma again. You allowed yourself to smile at the memory of the feeling of his lips on yours, the taste of his mouth, the scent of his cologne, his husky, breathless voice as he’d asked you if you trusted him now.

 As you stared up at the canopy of stars above you, you wondered what he was doing now, and if those grunts really had told him that you were going to Akala. At the very least, you figured, you knew where Team Skull’s HQ was now, so you could always try to find him on the next island if you really wanted to. But the way that Burnet had tried to talk you out of the idea before it had even occurred to you earlier made you unsure if that really was what you wanted to do.

As Kukui the boat slowed down, entering the Marina for Heahea City, you found yourself really regretting not having asked Guzma for his number when you’d had the chance.


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning, you were roused early by the bustle of morning activity on the docks of Heahea City. Burnet had actually been the first to wake up, making a pot of tea before leaving for work while the sun was still rising. Kukui had woken up just in time to see her off, and as the kids pulled themselves awake one-by-one, you were helping Kukui whip up a quick breakfast in the cramped kitchen space. Together, you all ate on the deck of the boat, discussing your plans for the coming day.

Hau and Moon were eager to head off to their first trial, with a water-type specialist named Lana. Lillie sounded excited to go shopping, but also mentioned wanting to stop by a place called The Ruins of Life. As soon as she said those words, Nebby had let out an excited squeal, clearly voicing its opinion on the matter. You were planning to explore the city a bit before making your way to find the motel, especially seeing as you still needed to retrieve and train your two pokémon from professor Oak. Kukui mentioned having some plans as well, but was very mysterious about revealing what exactly they were.

By mid-morning, everyone was beyond ready to head out, excited for the next leg of their journey. It surprised you to see Hau hanging back while everyone else disembarked, but it became clear why when he made a big leap from the boat to the deck once everyone else was off.

“Land Ahoy!” He shouted, a big dopey grin on his face. There was a long note of silence, as the others stared at him oddly. You finally broke the silence with a snort of laughter, more brought on by the lack of reaction to Hau than what he’d actually said.

“Well, at least big sis thought it was funny!” Hau huffed, crossing his arms.

“Big sis?” Kukui asked Hau, turning to him. Hau nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah! I mean, I’ve never had a sister before, but she’s kinda like one at this point, y’know?” He explained with a grin. You could feel your face heating up in a blush, and you couldn’t help but smile sheepishly. You were about to say something when you suddenly felt someone barrel into you from the side, and you looked down to see Moon clinging to you.

“Hau’s right,” She said, looking up at you, “You are like a big sister. I mean… You were a champion, and Hau and I wanna be a champions, and now you’re helping us… That’s the kinda stuff big sisters do, right?” You blinked down at her, touched by her words, before she was suddenly joined by Hau, now clinging to your other side. Then Lillie stepped up too, giving you a hug from the front as well. She didn’t say anything, but her soft smile spoke volumes in itself. You almost felt frozen with all three kids clinging to you, somewhat unsure of how to respond as your emotions began to overwhelm you. You looked over at Kukui who was holding back laughter, a hand covering his grinning mouth while his shoulders shook.

Gingerly, you wrapped your arms around the three children as best you could, trying to hug them all back at once. Suddenly, you felt a choked feeling begin to well up in the back of your throat. Were you really about to cry over this?

“You guys… Seriously, you’re the sweetest.” You laughed softly, trying to swallow the choked up feeling of your impending tears down. You pulled back and grinned at all three of them, closing your eyes as you did so in an effort to hide how close you were to crying.

“Hey now Kukui! This is why I keep telling you to put a shirt on under your lab coat! You’re scaring these innocent people to tears!” A voice called out, grabbing your attention. You were somewhat surprised to see Olivia coming toward your group, a girl with her green hair pulled into pigtails trailing behind her.

“Alola, everyone!” She said, waving her arms at your group.

“Hey there Olivia!” Kukui replied. Hurriedly, Lillie turned to Nebby, who was floating beside her, but Kukui put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

“Don’t sweat it Lillie,” he reassured her with a grin, “Olivia’s the Kahuna here. We can trust her.”

“B-but…” Lillie started, her eyes darting nervously to the green-haired girl next to Olivia. The girl seemed to notice, because she smiled sweetly at Lillie before introducing herself.

“I’m Mallow, one of the Trial Captains here!” She said in a bright, bubbly voice.

“I was just coming down here to see whose shoddy raft had pulled in to our nice marina in the middle of the night when I ran into Mallow here on a delivery,” Olivia added, a playfully snarky tone to her voice as she smirked at Kukui, who only beamed right back at her.

“Yup!” Mallow said, stepping up to Hau and Moon, “My trial will be a chance for all the fine ingredients that make up your team to shine! Especially you two! Your pokémon look ready to cook with gas! And you!”

Suddenly, Mallow rounded on you, looking you up and down. You stared back at her, a little bewildered, before she broke out into a grin.

“And _you_! A League Champion! Olivia told me all about it, and I know you’re not here for the trials or anything, but I’d love to battle you some time!” She said enthusiastically, and you couldn’t hold back a sheepish grin.

“Well, maybe we’ll get the chance to at some point!” You told her, patting your bag hanging at your side, “I’ll be around for a few days, at least!”

“Where are you going to be staying?” Olivia asked you, eyeing Kukui’s boat, “Please tell me your boss actually set you up this time.”

“Oh, well, I guess there’s a motel somewhere on Route 8? I’ve got a room there for now.” You said, now digging into your bag for your pokédex, intending to give the map another look-over.

“Oh! That’s not far from my trial site!” Mallow exclaimed, “Actually, I was just about to head in that direction, if you wanted me to show you the way!”

“I… Really?” You asked, a little taken aback. When Mallow just nodded enthusiastically, you smiled as you continued, “Well, ok. I kind of need to stop by the pokémon center first though.”

“And what about you kids?” Olivia asked Hau and Moon then, turning back to them, “Are you going to jump right in to your challenges? Or are you going to take it easy for a bit?”

“Well, whatever they decide,” Kukui spoke up, “It’s up to them. It’s their challenge after all!”

“I suppose you’re right,” Olivia admitted with a shrug, though she smiled brightly down at the kids as she continued, “Well, you guys take care. See you around!”

And with that, Olivia walked off.

“…You know, she really just wanted to make sure that you all had arrived okay,” Mallow spoke up once the Kahuna was gone, and Kukui couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud.

“Yeah, I figured as much!” he said, crossing his arms, “She pretends to be as hard as her rock-type pokémon, but she’s a kind Kahuna deep down.”

“That she is,” Mallow agreed, before turning back to you, “I have to get going too though, so… Shall we, Miss Champion?”

After a moment of protest at the title Mallow had given you, interrupted by Kukui telling you to stop being so modest about yourself, you bid everyone goodbye before following Mallow down the main street of HeaHea City. You stopped at the pokémon center to rearrange your team, trying to be quick about it for Mallow’s sake. You kept Meganium, Suicune, and Ho-Oh, as usual, depositing Jigglypuff and Grimer. You kept Rattata for now, figuring it would be easy enough to evolve so you could give it to Samson for research that much sooner.

You tucked your Cubone and Pichu egg safely into your bag, and let Mallow lead the way out of the center. You walked through Heahea City, listening to Mallow tell you about her family’s restaurant, then about her trial, then about the Totem pokémon at her trial site, then about the layout of the island, and on and on. It wasn’t the most interactive conversation you’d ever had, Mallow spending most of the time chattering on without much room for you to get a word in edgewise, but you found it to be a bit of a relief. She was fun to listen to, and it kept your mind from wandering.

“All right, this is where I gotta make a stop,” Mallow announced once the two of you had reached what looked like the far-end of a ranch along the Route you were walking.

“What’s this place?” You asked her, following her as she walked past the wooden fences and onto a dusty dirt trail. The fenced-off area to your right seemed to be a grazing field for Miltanks and Tauros, while the area to the left held several patches of tall grass.

“Paniola Ranch,” Mallow started, letting herself through a wooden gate into the Miltank field, “This is the BEST place in Alola to get Moomoo Milk, and there’s really no other substitutes for it in my recipes!”

“Oh wow!” you exclaimed, still following her. She waved to a blonde girl with braided pigtails across the field, who waved back before running off, presumably to find whoever Mallow was meeting there.

“We have a ranch like that in Johto,” you mentioned, and Mallow turned to face you. You opened your mouth to tell her a bit about it, but you were interrupted when she began frantically waving at someone behind you. You turned to see a young girl with short, blue hair strolling along the dirt path, looking somewhat lost in thought.

“Lana! Lanaaaaa!” Mallow called out, and the other girl looked over. She smiled at Mallow, waving back at her.

“What’s up?” She asked, strolling up to the pair of you. She was looking at you curiously, and you smiled politely back at her.

“Lana, you have to meet my new friend!” Mallow said, enthusiastically introducing you. Lana smiled and nodded, then held out her hand to you.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said, and you reached out to shake her hand.

“Same here,” you replied, finding her more mellow personality to be rather refreshing after Mallow’s high-octane chattering.

“Lana’s the water trial captain here!” Mallow explained with a grin. You nodded, then paused as you suddenly realized something.

“So the trials on this island cover Water, Grass, and Fire types, huh?” You asked, counting off the three on your fingers. The other two nodded, and Lana stepped up as she answered you.

“Yeah. The legends explain the importance of balance on each island, which is why Melemele only has a single normal-type trial, and Poni is home to two opposing type trials. Here on Akala, our three balance each other out in turn, and Ula’ula is set up in a similar way,” she explained, smiling gently, “But I’m sure a pro like you already understands why that’s so important.”

“Of course!” you said, grinning yourself, “That’s why I keep my three strongest of my grass, water, and fire types on me at all times. You never know what you’ll run into out there in the world, after all.”

“Ohmigawd!” Mallow gasped, “You _have_ to show us your pokémon!”

“Er,” Her demand gave you pause, and you unconsciously gripped at the strap of your bag.

“It’s okay if you’re uncomfortable,” Lana said reassuringly, though you noticed Mallow’s face immediately drop in disappointment. You sighed. You supposed there wouldn’t be any harm in simply showing the two trial captains your pokémon.

“No, it’s all right, but only the grass and water types, okay?” you agreed, and noticed Mallow’s expression quickly brighten again. You reached into your bag and pulled out the pokéballs you kept Meganium and Suicune in, releasing them in a bright flash of light.

You heard both of the girls gasp when they saw your pokémon. Meganium cried out softly at the exposure to the bright, warm sunlight, unfurling the giant flower petals around its neck happily. Suicune, on the other hand, appeared somewhat confused as it looked around its surroundings hesitantly, before slowly dipping its head to start sniffing at the pasture grass. Mallow began to laugh and ran right up to your Meganium, reaching up to stroke the back of its long neck.

“That… That’s a _Suicune,_ ” you heard Lana gasp. You turned to see her looking at you, completely shocked, and you felt a sudden wave of humility wash over you. It was suddenly taking you everything not to call the rare pokémon back.

“Heh… yep!” you said, feeling nervous suddenly, “I, uh… had a few run-ins with it before I got the chance to actually catch it.”

“Then it must truly trust you,” Lana breathed, stepping up to the pokémon. You noticed her begin to reach out her hand, as if to stroke its flowing, purple mane, but she stopped herself. Suicune looked at her, and you noticed her body tense slightly.

Then, something you weren’t expecting happened. Suicune moved its head forward, and gently nudged the palm of Lana’s hand with its snout. Encouraged, Lana slowly ran her hand up its snout, over its head and around its antlers, then into its cloud-like mane before finally drawing away.

“Whoa,” she breathed softly, and Suicune let out a hard exhale before turning its head to observe its surroundings. It didn’t take very long for it to spot the small pond at the end of the field, and before you could react, Suicune had dashed over there, dipping its head to take a drink. You smiled to yourself, watching the water slowly become clearer as the pokémon touched its lips to the surface.

“You know, I’m sure the old guy won’t mind you letting them run around in the pasture for a little bit!” Mallow said to you, her hand still resting on your Meganium’s shoulder. She was looking up at it, smiling at the blissful expression it wore as it warmed its face in the sunlight. You looked over at the patches of long grass on the other side of the dirt path and got an idea.

“You sure?” you asked, looking between Mallow and Lana.

“Oh yeah! We’ll watch them for you if you want to go train in the grass over there,” Mallow offered, and Lana nodded in agreement with her.

“Well gosh,” you said, feeling somewhat surprised at her generosity, “I mean, if you guys don’t mind.”

“Not at all!” Mallow confirmed, and you looked to Lana, who nodded again.

“Okay then,” you said, nodding back, “Um. Holler if anything happens, ok?”

“Got it!” Mallow said, giving you a thumbs up with a grin. Lana smiled up at you, and smiled back at the two of them before taking off into the long grass.

You spent the next hour running through the long grass, training your weaker pokémon. You would send the baby Cubone out first, just for a taste of the battle, before calling it back to replace with the stronger Rattata. You mostly focused on battling the plentiful Lillipups that bounding through the golden grass, but you couldn’t stop yourself from lobbing a great ball at a donkey-like pokémon that your dex identified as “Mudbray” when you encountered one.

The sun was high when you realized that you’d stopped sweating. You’d been so focused on trying to get your Rattata to evolve (why wouldn’t it? Surely you’d leveled it up enough by now), that you’d completely neglected to drink any water, and now you found yourself completely parched. You dug into your bag for a bottle of water as you turned around to face the pasture, to check on your pokémon. Meganium was laying down in an empty corner of the field, looking very content as it absorbed the sunlight. However it wasn’t Meganium that caught your attention.

Over by the lake at the end of the pasture, a small crowd had begun to form. You knew immediately what the people were looking at.

You took off for the other pasture at a sprint, only pausing to call back Meganium as you passed it. You pushed your way through the crowd, to the wooden fence bordering the small pond. Suicune was pressed against the rock cliff that backed the pond, crouching delicately on the surface of the water. You could tell it was nervous, and if it were still wild, it would have definitely run off by now.

“Suicune!” you called out, and the pokémon lifted its head. You heard the crowd behind you gasp, but you were more concerned about Suicune than them at the moment. Your pokémon leapt over to where you stood, and you reached out your hand. It nuzzled it gently, as it had with Lana earlier, and you pulled out its ultraball to recall it.

“All right, nothing more to see here, folks,” Called out a voice, and you turned to see a small girl with thick braids and a purple bonnet on the back of a very big horse, “Get a move-on.”

You watched as the small crowd began to disperse, a couple of people grumbling in dissatisfaction, but most whispering to each other in awe. The girl climbed down from her pokemon and gave it a sturdy pat on its flank.

“That was your pokémon?” she asked you, and you were a little taken aback by her blunt tone. She had her hands on her hips as she looked up at you with a stern gaze.

“Y-yeah,” you said, reaching up to tuck some hair behind your ear. This girl looked about half your age, but you still somehow felt as though you were being scolded like a child.

“You ought to keep it on a tighter lock then,” She sighed, “You’re lucky that no one from Team Skull was here to see it.”

“Er,” you started, trying to ignore the lurch in your chest at the mere mention of Team Skull, “I um… I had left them with Mallow and Lana to watch while I went and trained my other pokémon.”

You realized something and began to look around. Where were the two girls?

“Lana had to take care of a couple of problem pokémon up the Route,” the new girl explained, “which is what I came to tell her. And when she took off, Mallow asked me to watch your pokémon for her while she went to find the ranch owner.”

She sighed and shook her head.

“They can both be a bit scatter-brained, unfortunately. You’re new here though, so you wouldn’t know that I guess. My name is Hapu, by the way.”

She held out her gloved hand, and you shook it. Her grip was stronger than yours, which surprised you. You introduced yourself back, and she nodded in understanding.

“Mallow did tell me a little bit about you. You’re a champion at the Indigo Plateau?” she crossed her arms as she smiled up at you.

You took the time to explain the situation to Hapu, who seemed unsurprised at Mallow’s exaggeration.

“Yes, she can certainly be… excitable,” Hapu said, holding back a sigh in her voice, “she does the same thing with me sometimes, calling me the fourth Kahuna even though she knows better. But I think she just wants to be proud of her friends, so I don’t try to really fight her on it.”

She shrugged, and you remembered something.

“The fourth Kahuna?” you asked, “I thought there were only the three.”

Hapu didn’t hold back her sigh this time as she looked toward the dirt path. She was quiet for a long moment before she turned back to you.

“Mallow mentioned that she was showing you to the motel you’re staying at. Since she’ll probably still be a while, would you like to follow me there? I’m going in that direction anyway,” Hapu said, her face unreadable as she waited for your answer. You were slightly taken aback by the abrupt change in your conversation, but you found yourself nodding.

“Oh… s-sure,” You said, and she smiled at you before turning back to her pokémon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to have the next one up a little sooner~
> 
> And once again, thank you so much for all the kudos and kind comments! You guys are the best, your words really keep me going!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M ALIIIIIVVVVEEEEEE  
> Sorry guys, I got a little distracted by life and a shift in hyper-fixations, but I finally finished this chapter!!! I figured I should put this out there before the USUM release at least lol  
> Speaking of, I want to make it clear that this fic is going to continue following the storyline of the original sun/moon (mostly Moon) versions... I know USUM is gonna change a lot of canon, and I kind of already have this whole story outlined, so it would really throw a wrench into things if I decided to change the canon I'm following. So thank you for being understanding in regards to that!  
> Now that that's out of the way... Please enjoy this chapter!!!

As you followed Hapu and her pokémon, called a “Mudsdale” you learned, out of the ranch and back along Route 6, she surprised you by telling you about the mysterious fourth Kahuna. According to Hapu, the previous Kahuna of Poni island had been her grandfather, who died some years ago. The island had been without a Kahuna ever since, but it hadn’t been much of a problem since the island was so sparsely populated.

You listened intently as you walked along beside her Mudsdale, not saying much. She didn’t seem to mind, and kept explaining to you various things about the island she lived on. She told you how her family were the only permanent residents of the island, how there was only one trial captain and one trial site, and how they were each entirely separate from each other. She told you about the great Battle Tree along the north coast, and the ancient Altar of the Moone in the heart of the island.

It was getting to be late in the afternoon by the time you and Hapu finally made it to the motel. You bid each other goodbye and you watch her ride away down Route 8 away from you. As you turned back to look at the motel (which was so identical to the one on Melemele that it could have been the same building), you saw a boy with blonde hair leaving one of the rooms.

When he looked up at you, you immediately thought that he looked familiar somehow. His pale skin and choppy, blonde hair reminded you of someone, but before you could place your finger on exactly who, the boy had turned away from you and walked down the Route that you and Hapu had come from. You shrugged and entered the lobby to check yourself in for the evening.

You chatted with the woman behind the counter as she checked you in, and to your surprise, the conversation quickly turned to the young boy you had just seen leave the motel. Apparently your room would be next door to his.

“Yes, I am rather concerned though,” the woman admitted, resting her cheek in her palm as she furrowed her brows in concern, “He’s rented that room out for the next year, and I rarely see him with visitors, let alone anyone who looks like his parents.”

“Wow…” you sighed, and took a sip from the soda you’d bought from the vending machine. Going on a pokémon journey was one thing, but if this kid was _living_ out of a single motel room, you figured something had to be up.

“He paid upfront for the whole thing too,” the woman continued, looking out the little window in her office behind the counter, “I have no idea where a kid his age would get that kind of money, but there have to be ways, I guess.”

You briefly thought of Team Skull, but pushed it down as quickly as it had come up. He hadn’t been dressed like them after all. Still, you decided that you were going to try to check up on him later.

You bid the woman behind the counter goodbye and left to settle into your room.

The room itself was also identical to the room you’d had at the other motel, right down to the pattern on the comforter. You decided not to stay very long, just unloading some of your things before heading back out to try to train your Rattata into evolving again.

The sun was low in the sky, and wore your sunglasses as you wandered through the tall grasses of Route 8, battling the pokémon inhabiting the area. There seemed to be more bird pokémon in this area, and by the time the sun was beginning to set, your Rattata had gotten pretty good at jumping up to properly attack them, but was still unevolved.

You were just about to head back to your room for the night, annoyed at your Rattata’s apparent stubbornness to evolve, when you heard a small cry from behind you. You turned around to see a small, pink bear-like pokémon looking innocently up at you. You immediately recognized it, seeing as Kukui had had one in his home. A Stufful, you recalled.

“Cubone!” you called, sending out your weaker pokémon so as not to risk harming it too badly. The battle didn’t last very long, and after a couple of bone clubs, the Stufful was weak enough to catch. You threw a great ball, but it didn’t stick. As the Stufful popped out, it began to back away and you started to panic a little. You dug into your bag for an empty ultraball and lobbed it at the small thing. After a few tense moments of watching the ball shake, it clicked, and you couldn’t hold back a squeal of excitement at having caught the small pokémon.

You’d just snatched the ball up when you heard your ringtone again. You pulled out your pokédex to see that your mom was calling you.

You couldn’t answer fast enough. If she was reaching out to you this time, then maybe…

“Hi honey!” your mom’s voice came through. She sounded happy, which was a good sign. You couldn’t see her face, however, because she had never upgraded to anything with a camera. She refused to see how it was necessary.

“Hey mom,” you said, smiling despite the fact that you knew that she couldn’t see you. You had your problems with her, sure, but she was still the one person who had raised you.

“How are things in paradise?” She asked, laughing. You could feel rather than hear the quiet tinge of bitterness in her laugh, and you tried to swallow the heartbeat that you could suddenly feel in your throat.

“It’s… nice,” you said, somewhat hesitantly, “I’ve caught a few pokémon for Professor Oak already. And even a few local ones for myself. There are some really adorable ones out here you know, and I just caught a cute little one that I know you’d love!”

You allowed yourself to ride the swell of pride that you had begun to build with your words, but it wasn’t long before you were cut down.

“Ah,” Was all your mom said at first, then, after a moment’s hesitation, “Did you use the pokéballs that professor Oak gave you, or…?”

You could hear the dark tone in her voice, and you immediately realized that there was no right answer. A lie would get you a scolding for wasting your boss’s resources, and the truth would get you a disappointed sigh in your waste of out-of-pocket expenses.

“…No,” you finally admitted after a moment of silence, “I… I had an extra level ball. From Kurt, you know. The old ball-maker in Azalea Town”

It was your go-to lie in these situations. Kurt didn’t charge much else but apricorns and your time in exchange for making specialty pokéballs, but at the same time, you knew it was an easy lie for her to catch you in. Even if she didn’t often cross paths with Kurt to talk to him, she’d usually see your pokémon at some point while you were at home, and you could only pray that she’d forgotten which ones you’d told her you’d caught with Kurt’s pokéballs.

“Well, that’s fine, I suppose,” she said, her voice somewhat cautious, and you breathed a sigh of relief as she continued, “Have you met any other characters like him in this new region?”

You knew that she’d meant people like Kurt, people who could give you valuable items for little to no money. But your mind instantly went to Guzma anyway, and you were suddenly relieved that your mom wasn’t able to see your face.

“Not exactly,” you began, trying to keep your voice steady as you did your best to push Guzma out of your thoughts, “But I have made plenty of new friends! The professor here has been really kind and hospitable, and I’m actually going to be accompanying a couple of new trainers on their journey as part of my job! Since they’ll be going around the whole region, it’ll be a good opportunity for me to encounter the pokemon Professor Oak needs.”

There was a pause before your mom spoke again.

“Well,” she said finally, her voice tense with restrained disappointment, “if you need me to wire you any cash-”

“I’ll let you know. I know. I’ve got it covered though.” You promised her. You heard her make a short sigh on the other end of the line before she spoke again.

“Ok sweetie. Take care of yourself, all right?” it sounded more like a command than a concern.

“Yeah.” Was all you said in reply. There was another pause before:

“I love you,” her voice was soft and sweet, and you knew she meant it. Now it was your turn to sigh.

“I love you too mom,” you said, then hung up without another word.

You angrily pushed your sunglasses up to rest on top of your head and all but stomped back to the motel.

You had completely forgotten about the blond boy by then, but you saw him again as you approached the motel. He was just exiting the pokémon center next door, and you knew you’d be going in the same direction, so you decided to say something.

“Hey!” you called, and he stopped in his tracks, looking back at you over his shoulder. You smiled and waved to him, but he just turned back around and continued on his way, completely ignoring you.

Already miffed from the call with your mom, you decided that you didn’t feel like putting up with that kind of rudeness. So, you jogged up to him, until you were walking alongside him.

“Leave me alone,” Was all he said, barely glancing up at you. You furrowed your brow.

“I just wanted to ask you if you needed anything,” you told him, trying to sound casual, “The lady at the reception desk mentioned something about you living out of your motel room here, and I mean, I know what it’s like being a young trainer on your own, so I just thought maybe-”

Now the boy stopped in his tracks and turned to face you. He was glaring icily at you, and you couldn’t help but notice that there was also something oddly familiar about his bright green eyes.

“I don’t need anything from anyone,” he spat out in an angry tone, “Now leave me the hell alone before I make you regret it.” He glanced at your bag, then back to you before turning around and stalking off without another word.

You had to hold back a snort of laughter at his threat. There was no way he could take you on, either via pokémon battle or otherwise, you were pretty confident of this. Then again, that did give you a new idea.

“All right then,” you said, walking faster to catch back up to him, “How about a pokémon battle? If you win, I’ll leave you alone AND you get some cash. How’s that sound?”

The boy finally stopped and looked at you again. He narrowed his eyes, looking you up and down before finally letting out a sigh as he brought a hand to his forehead.

“Fine,” He said, “if it will get you to stop pestering me.”

“One pokémon each okay?” You asked him, reaching into your bag. You would use Rattata, you figured, and give him an easy win.

“If it will end this faster,” The boy growled, grabbing at his wrist. He was shaking slightly, and you almost wondered if he wasn’t in some kind of pain before he dropped his hand and reached for a pokéball at his belt. Then, with shout, he sent out a beast unlike any you had ever seen before.

The pokémon seemed almost cobbled together from the parts of others. It had paws on its hind legs but scaly, talon-like claws on its front. Despite the two-toned fur on its body, it had what appeared to be a fin for a tail. Perhaps most unsettling of all, however, was the frightening-looking, spikey, metal contraption that covered the pokémon’s head.

You took a step back unconsciously, and the boy looked at you with a frown.

“Well?” He said, and you took a moment to compose yourself.

“What… what kind of pokémon is that?” you asked him, fumbling with your bag. Maybe this wouldn’t be as simple as you thought. The boy walked up to the pokémon and put a hand against its metal head piece.

“It’s called Type: Null,” he said, then grabbed his wrist with his other hand, pulling it away from the pokémon as he began to let it shake violently, “Now, are we doing this or not?”

His reply didn’t exactly answer your question, but you changed your mind about sending out Rattata after all.

You threw an ultraball, and let Suicune out for the second time that day. Now it was the boy’s turn to be taken aback.

“T-that pokémon…”he stuttered, then tightened his grip on his shaking wrist, “So, you are serious after all.”

He brought his hand in front of his eyes, and you could see his tendons popping out under his skin from the tension.

“Null, use pursuit!” He shouted suddenly, and his pokémon dashed for yours.

“Tailwind!” You called out, watching Suicune crouch as a breeze began to build up from behind it. The Type: Null hit Suicune with its attack, but Suicune seemed barely affected.

“Tackle it, Null!” The boy called out as his pokémon backed up slightly, pushed back by the strong wind Suicune had summoned.

“Hydro Pump!” You commanded as the Type: Null began to charge at your Pokémon once more. Boosted by the tailwind, Suicune’s attack hit first. You were somewhat surprised, however, to see the other pokémon using its fin-like tail to push it through the torrent of water with relative ease. It wasn’t unaffected by the attack by any means, but it still hit Suicune with a powerful tackle, sending your pokémon reeling.

You looked up at the kid on the other side, his bright blond hair standing out like a beacon in the encroaching darkness of the twilight. He was watching the battle with an intensity that reminded you of Moon and Hau when you had seen them battle. Unlike them, however, there was something heavier behind his expression, something far more serious, and you wondered what could be fueling it.

“Pursuit!” the boy called out, and his pokémon dashed toward yours. Reacting rather than thinking, you called out your attack.

“Extreme Speed!” The two pokémon met in the middle of the ring, head-to-head. The clashing of their attacks kicked up a cloud of dust, obscuring the pokémon from your view. You coughed as you tried not to breathe in all the dirt, and once it had all settled, you saw a disheveled Suicune standing over the exhausted body of the Type: Null.

“Tch…” The boy scoffed as he called his pokémon back into its ball, “How embarrassing… Losing to the likes of you… I really do need to get stronger.”

He brought his hand to his forehead again as he mumbled to himself, and you watched him with concern. As he began to dig into his pockets for some cash to give you, however, you put your hand up.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” you said, and he looked up at you, “I didn’t mean to win… But, when I saw your pokémon… Where on Earth did you catch something like that?”

“…I didn’t catch it,” was all the boy said as he turned his back to you again. You watched him for a moment as he marched toward the motel, muttering to himself the whole time as he clutched a shaking wrist with his other hand. After a moment of letting him get ahead of you, you followed, suddenly feeling exhausted.

The boy was unlocking his door when you caught up with him, and he glared at you as you passed him to reach the door to your own room. You sighed as you pulled out your key, not looking at him as you spoke.

“You know, you have to be careful with pokémon like that,” you said, “They don’t obey just any trainer.” You could hear him scoff at you before entering his room without another word.

You sighed as you opened the door to let yourself in to your own. The moment you stepped over the threshold, you found yourself suddenly aware of the weight of your legs and how tiring each step seemed to be. You paused to turn on the TV before flopping onto the bed, intending to relax as you found something to watch.

Instead, however, you found your eyelids sagging the moment your head hit the pillow, and it wasn’t long before you had dozed off.

 

You were awoken by a loud knocking at your door. You grumbled to yourself as you turned over, assuming it was housekeeping. The knocking didn’t let up however, and you rolled back over to check the time. It hadn’t even been two hours since you’d returned to your room.

Rubbing your eyes, you pulled yourself out of bed and shuffled over to the door, running your fingers through your tangled hair in an effort to tame it somewhat.

You looked through the peephole of the door, and your heart stopped when you saw the man on the other side.

You flung the door open to find Guzma standing there, one hand in his pocket, the other raised to knock again. When he saw your bewildered expression, he broke into a wide grin and moved to lean against the doorframe.

“Heard you were stayin’ here,” he said simply, and all you could do was nod. Your heart was racing as you stepped aside to let him in, and you could smell his cologne again as he brushed past you into the room.

You closed the door automatically after him, but immediately began to have second thoughts about that the moment you realized that the two of you were alone in the motel room. You watched him as he wandered around, almost prowling, looking everything in the room over.

“U-um…” you started, swallowing thickly as he looked over at you, “What um. Brings you out here?”

He grinned and made his way back toward where you still stood, frozen. He stopped just inches in front of you, hands in his pockets as he looked you up and down. You suddenly felt more self-conscious than ever, and quickly began combing your fingers through your hair again.

“Business, mostly,” he said, then reached out to touch the hand you had buried in your hair, gently taking it and pulling it away, “but a grunt mentioned that you were gonna be on Akala, so I thought I’d drop by. I mean, didn’t you say somethin’ last time about wantin’ to chill again when ya didn’t have a curfew?”

He was still holding your hand, and it was the only thing you could focus on. When he gently rubbed his thumb over your skin, you felt sparks jump up your arm from his touch. You looked up at him and opened your mouth to say something, but no words would come. You could hear your heart pounding in your ears when his lips curled up into a grin at your reaction.

“Fuck, you’re cute,” he chuckled, pulling his other hand out of his pocket to gently cup your cheek. Your own free hand immediately shot up to his and you felt him freeze under your fingers. Very slowly you pulled his hand away from your face, but did not let go of it. You couldn’t bring yourself to.

“How… did you find me?” It was all you could think of to say, and you felt so embarrassed that you had to look away from him. When he answered you, he spoke slowly, as if choosing each word very, very carefully.

“The kid in the room next door… He’s one of ours,” Guzma began, and you snapped your eyes up to look at him again, noticing his grin had vanished, as he continued, “He uh, mentioned some chick who wouldn’t leave him alone until he agreed to battle her, because she wanted to give him some pity cash so bad.”

Guzma laughed and let go of one of your hands to scratch at the back of his undercut. His other hand tightened its grip on yours slightly, and you could help but wonder. Was he nervous?

“Guess I figured that had to be you, ‘cause you’re the only one I know with that particular habit,” He laughed again, a little more roughly this time, and it was his turn to look away now.

“…Would you like to sit down?” you asked, gesturing to the seat in front of the TV. Guzma looked over at it, then back to you before shrugging.

“Sure,” He said simply, letting your hand slip out of his as he stepped away from you. You followed shortly behind him as he sank into the chair, and you perched yourself awkwardly on your bed, feeling like you needed to put some sort of physical distance between the two of you.

“Um,” You began after a few moments of awkward silence, “You know, if it’s a problem, I can… You know, leave your guys alone.”

Guzma looked over at you for a moment, his eyebrow raised, before barking out a laugh.

“Nah, don’t worry about that,” he said, leaning back as he brought his arms up to rest his head back into his hands, “I actually appreciate it. Most people just wanna give ‘em a hard time when they run into ‘em. It’s nice to know there’s someone out there who wants to cut ‘em a break.”

You couldn’t hold back a smile at his words. He smiled too, a relaxed and happy and warm smile that set you more at ease. You leaned forward a little and stretched your legs out in front of you.

“Well, that kid next door didn’t seem to appreciate it, that’s for sure,” you said, shrugging. Guzma laughed a little, but it suddenly sounded hollow and even more forced than his last one.

“Yeah. That’s Gladion for ya. He wants to do everything all on his own, like he’s some kinda rebellious fucken toddler,” Guzma said, not looking at you anymore. His eyes were darting all around the room, seemingly using your bag sitting at the foot of the bed as a home base.

“Well, I don’t know about the toddler part,” You said with a somewhat awkward laugh yourself, “But yeah, with the way he blew me off at first, I figured the only way he’d accept anything was through a fair fight.”

“Mmm,” Guzma grunted, and you cocked your head, prompting him to continue, “Yeah, he told me some about it.”

Your eyes widened as you suddenly realized something. When you had battled the kid with your Suicune earlier, you had sent it out assuming that he was just another trainer. You’d had no idea that he’d been affiliated with Team Skull at the time. Unlike any of the other members you’d met, he didn’t have the logo anywhere on him that you’d been able to see.

A sinking feeling settled in your gut as you remembered Hapu’s words from when you’d had Suicune out at the ranch earlier. _You’re lucky that no one in Team Skull was here to see_ …

“…What did he tell you about it?” You asked after a moment of hesitation, trying to sound as casual as possible. Guzma had fixed his eyes on the TV, but wasn’t exactly watching it.

“Eh, not much,” he said, a little stiffly, “Really just said that you kicked his ass. I think he’s still pretty pissed about it.”

He laughed again, that forced, nervous laugh that was setting you right back on-edge.

“Yeah, well. I was only trying to evolve this Rattata I caught a few days ago. I must have gotten a little carried away,” You shrugged and smiled a little, though it was just as forced as his earlier laughter. At least it sounded like this Gladion kid hadn’t told his boss about Suicune, so you decided to see if you couldn’t dance around the subject of which pokémon you had actually won the battle with.

“Rattata?!” Guzma exclaimed suddenly, laughing again, but more sounding more genuine now, and… relieved? You figured he must have been as grateful for the subject change as you were as he continued, “What, are you telling me an International League Champ can’t evolve a fucken Rattata?!”

“H-Hey!” you huffed, crossing your arms, “Don’t laugh at me! I’ve been trying to level it up all day, but-”

He began laughing harder at that, and you were about to tell him to leave if he wasn’t going to stop when he suddenly stood up and walked over to your bag at the foot of your bed.

“Call it out,” he said to you, nodding down at your bag. You looked up at him for a moment, your eyebrow raised.

“You’re not gonna try and catch it, are you?” You asked him, leaning over as you reached for your bag.

“Hah hah,” Guzma said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as you pulled out Rattata’s pokéball. With a flash of light, you let the pokémon out, and it immediately stretched before crawling over to you to sniff at your toes.

“Got any Rare Candies?” Guzma asked as he squatted down beside the little pokémon. He reached out to scratch the fur between its ears softly, and it leaned in to his touch happily. It was so sweet, and you couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah,” you answered, and began digging in your bag. You pulled one out of the small pocket you kept them in, and he held out his hand to you. You gave him the candy and watched as he fed it to the Rattata.

As soon as the pokémon had swallowed the candy, you watched in amazement as it began to glow and change forms before your very eyes. It grew bigger and fatter, its tail became thinner, and it moved to stand up on its hind legs. By the time the process was over, you were looking at a very fat Alolan Raticate, which was staring right back up at you. It chittered happily, then moved forward to sniff at you again.

“Ya gotta level ‘em up at night,” Guzma explained, rising to his feet. You looked up at him, grinning as you called the pokémon back into its ball.

“Wow! Thank you so much for that! I guess that must be because they’re Dark types in this region… That’s absolutely fascinating…” You began mumbling to yourself, mentally taking notes on what to tell Oak when you next reported back to him. You were so absorbed in your thoughts that you didn’t notice as Guzma stepped over to stand right in front of you. In fact, it wasn’t until he put his index finger under your chin, tilting your face up to look at him that you even realized that he was trying to get your attention. He was leaning over so that his face was almost level with yours, and he was giving you a leering grin as his eyes scanned you up and down.

“We got a lot of fun secrets like that here in Alola,” He said, his voice coming out in a low growl that made you shiver, “I could show ya some more, if ya want.”

You swallowed thickly.

The last time you had seen him, you’d promised each other something like this. And at the time, you’d more than wanted it. But enough time and moments of doubt had passed since then that you had to wonder if you really still did.

However, as he gently placed his thumb under your lip, holding you in place as he began to lean in, you realized that you didn’t have the time to wonder right now. And, with the way your heart was pounding and your gut was twisting, you knew that there was hardly room to wonder either. You wanted him, and you knew it.

You kissed him back as you reached up to wrap your arms around his neck, and were surprised to feel him almost fall down onto the bed next to you. He wrapped his own arms around you and pulled you into his lap, doing his best not to break your kiss.

You wound up straddling him in this new position, and though you were aware of the precariousness of it, you didn’t exactly want to pull away from him. You were the one to part your lips first this time, and Guzma dove in eagerly, his tongue meeting yours. You couldn’t hold back from moaning softly into his mouth as his grip on you tightened, holding you flush against him. You let a hand wander up from the back of his neck, running your fingers over his undercut, and you heard him growl a little as he deepened the kiss. As if he’d been prompted by your actions, Guzma let his own hands wander down to rest on your ass, squeezing it softly.

Your pulse began to speed up, and you felt a warmth begin to blossom between your legs as you kissed him back just as deeply as he had, trying to taste as much of him as you possibly could. Keeping one hand firmly supporting your butt, he let his other wander back up, snaking its way under your shirt and against your bare skin. You gasped into his mouth at the sudden contact, and unconsciously arched toward him, pressing your chest into his.

You could feel his lips curl into a smile against yours, and the next thing you were aware of was his fingers unclasping your bra.

You pulled away from him immediately, still panting slightly from your intense make out session. You could still feel your face burning in a furious blush, and it was almost uncomfortable how turned on you were, but…

A lot of thoughts came rushing to you at once. Samson and Hala reassuring you that Team Skull was nothing to concern yourself with. Kukui telling you it was just better to focus on your job. Even Burnet, who seemed to be the most interested in your budding relationship, warning you against seeking out the team’s boss.

“What’s wrong?” Guzma whispered, his voice husky.

“I-I….” you bit your lip as you looked away from him.

“Hey,” he said softly, leaning in again as he reached out to touch your cheek, “what, ’sit yer first time or somethin’?”

You pulled away again, out of his reach, your brow furrowed as you shook your head.

“I-it’s not that…” You swallowed thickly as you reached back to re-clasp your bra, “I-I just… This was a bad idea. I-I shouldn’t have even… Y-you should just go.”

“…You fucken serious?” You heard him growl suddenly after a moment of hesitation. You looked over at him, and your blood went cold to see his absolutely furious expression.

“I-I’m sorry…” you muttered, looking away from him and closing your stinging eyes shut tightly. The last thing you wanted was for him to see you crying about this right now.

“Tch. Yeah, sure ya are. 'Bout as much as you 'trust' me.” You felt his weight lift off the bed and looked up to see him stomping across the room.

“Guzma, wait,” You said, and he stopped in his tracks to look back at you over his shoulder, his hand on the doorknob to your motel room. The moment seemed to stretch on forever as you struggled to find something to say, to defuse the tension.

“…I’m sorry.” You repeated. It was all you could say, and he just shook his head as he marched out, slamming the door so hard behind him that the pictures on the wall next to it rattled.

Finally alone, the tears were able to flow freely down your face. Desperate for some kind of comfort, you reached for the pillow, and hugged it close as you sobbed into it.

You had just gotten some kind of comfortable when the shouting next door began. Guzma’s voice was obvious to your ears, though the wall muffled his words enough that you couldn’t make out what, exactly, he was saying. You could also hear a woman’s voice, significantly calmer-sounding, but responding to Guzma’s with a firmness that even he seemed unable to argue with. Still, it was clear that Guzma had become no less angry, and it wasn’t long before you heard him stomping out of that room, and slamming the door behind him once more.

The calm voices of the woman and Gladion were the only things audible from the other room now, and you reached for the TV remote, turning up the volume.

You didn’t want to think about who that woman in the other room was, or what her relationship to Guzma might be. You didn’t want to think about how, if you hadn’t pushed Guzma away, you could be in the midst of intimacy at that very moment, instead of miserably hugging a stiff motel room pillow alone on the bed. And, most importantly, you didn’t want to think about what Guzma was doing, either currently, or in this game he seemed so willing to play with your heart.

You began to fall asleep to the jingle of a Malasada commercial, and tried to distract yourself by deciding to treat yourself to one as soon as possible.


End file.
